STAR WARS: Fugitive
by bspencer.mlj
Summary: Over 1000 years before the movies, Thera Tykos, a Sith apprentice begins her journey toward helping the Sith Empire bring order to the galaxy. Assigned to an espionage unit, she finds her world turned upside down when she finds herself targeted by her own Sith faction. Join Thera Tykos as she struggles to survive through a crash course of what it means to be a Sith.
1. Prologue

2

The lonely starship, a Fury-class Interceptor, the _Malignant_, loomed gingerly in high orbit above the planet, Mandalore, prepped for launch into hyperspace, poised and ready to ensure no time would be wasted in leaving once its purpose here was fulfilled. Then it would rendezvous with one of its sister vessels, the _Pernicious_, a small hyper-jump away, to conduct business with a smuggler on Gargon, and from there to Ryloth. These vessels carried members of the Sith Order.

The Sith had reemerged almost a millennium ago, establishing a new empire in the face of the Republic, defeating and driving the Republic forces, led by the powerful Jedi, into the galaxy's Core sectors. The Republic had suffered a significant loss almost five hundred years ago, and had yet to recover, the last few decades being the worst of their decline. In response, Sith dominance continued to grow, but it was no longer what it was in the beginning. Though slowly, incoherently they accumulated more control of the galaxy from the Republic, the essence of the New Sith Empire had subtly begun to weaken, fading into disharmony. Making things worse, information was scarce outside the Core Worlds, due to something that seemed to have caused the collapse of the holonet, contributing to the disarray of the growing Sith presence in the galaxy. Sith Lords were still conquering worlds, fighting each other for supremacy and purging of weakness among the Sith, and weaving networks in order to eventually eradicate the Jedi and their Republic.

One such Sith Lord, Darth Durus, an Umbaran Sith Inquisitor, succeeded in building a formidable web composed of Sith warriors, assassins and other resources through crime networks, political spies, and a myriad of smuggler rings. Thus far he had grown beneath the sights and sensors of other Sith Lords, avoiding their pointless squabbles, yet subtly directing various other Sith Lords into organized chaos through espionage and cunning.

But lately Durus sensed volatile vices within his own subordinates, along with a few disturbing revelations of the future in the Force, including what seemed like the fall of the Sith. Loose ends would need to be severed, and a few unfortunate modifications in plans were in order, beginning at Mandalore under the hand of his apprentice aboard the _Malignant_.

His image flickered in the holodisplay, "There's been a disturbance in the Force. Is it completed?" asked the hologram of Darth Durus, his voice mellow, calm, and aged. Wearing a cloak, he looked no different from other Sith warlords, his pale face barely visible beneath the hood. This must have been an event of galactic importance, as Darth Durus rarely showed himself or made direct contact beyond the secure link within their more private meditation compartments.

_I wasn't expecting him to make contact so soon! _ "Not as of yet, my Lord!" Lord Subtyr, his apprentice, replied smoothly, "We've received reports of success; the body count is almost complete!"

"There cannot be any mistakes! The fate of the Sith depends on it!" warned Durus, his voice rising with controlled anxiety.

"I am seeing to it personally, my Lord! We received a report that a Jedi infiltrator was in our midst, and has been already eliminated."

"Good! When this is completed, go to Ryloth and contact me when you arrive. We still have a greater mission afoot; we shall soon show the galaxy the glory of the Sith, and begin to bring the Republic to the dust, along with its Jedi protectors!"

"Yes, my Lord," replied the apprentice as the hologram vanished. "Has Lord Cunan made contact yet? What is the last count?" he bellowed to the communications droid. "Not since the last report; the count is still minus two."

The "count" number was counting up to zero for the Sith espionage squadron sent on a mission that would eradicate them. _What a waste of such useful resources!_ The unit had been the most potent and efficient and invisible. _A Jedi spy in their midst; no wonder they could be so precise!_

Darth Durus had seen a Force vision of the demise of the Sith due to this unit's continued existence. He could not pinpoint the member or members of the squadron who would serve as the catalyst for this vision, so it was decided that the group was now expendable. The progress of the mission crawled slower than the apprentice expected for a sting operation. _I have a bad feeling about this._ It was taking too long, and he risked his personal safety placating Lord Durus with the news of the fallen Jedi. The Mandalorians thus far had cooperated, but that would vanish the instant the operation was over, and the apprentice did not wish to remain in the Mandalore system long afterward.

"Lord Cunan is making contact, now!" chimed the communications droid.

_It's about time!_ "Bring him up," he replied smoothly.

Cunan's holo-image appeared, and he looked forlorn. "Report!" bellowed the apprentice.

"My Lord, The count as still at minus two; one of the unit members is missing, and another is verified escaped from the compound. A small Mandalorian squad pursued in vain, and they are demanding more compensation for their unexpected losses."

The apprentice dropped his head into his hand, clearly mirroring the dejection both heard and felt in Cunan's voice. He could feel fear building within himself; Lord Durus rarely spoke in error or lightly of his visions in the Force. Subtyr knew of the vast network Durus had been assembling against the Jedi and their Republic. Durus had woven a web with which to launch a mighty offensive that would rally and inspire other Sith Lords to action. Subtyr was being sent to Ryloth for procurement of resources toward "holes" in Durus' web. Timing was of the essence; thus failure of this operation was simply not an option, and now the Mandalorians added another obstacle to deal with.

Mandalorian culture infused its members with peculiar tenacity and exceptional skill and flexibility in combat, making them extremely dependable and productive mercenaries, which hinged upon their third trait as mercenaries: the price had to be right, or else their own interests had to be settled. The fugitive Cunan spoke of had evaded this Mandalorian effort… _a really bad feeling about this…_

_We can deal with the Mandalorians, but this operation must be completed!_

"Darth Cunan, I'm routing reinforcements to assist you in your pursuit of the two that remain. I have just spoken with Lord Durus; partial completion of this operation will be fatal for us all! Do not fail me, or I will personally ensure you will not survive!"

"Understood, Lord Subtyr," replied Cunan smartly. "I will send rendezvous coordinates shortly. We will succeed!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Have to… … keep moving…. _ Thera Tykos had been running for what seemed like almost an hour, her strength slowly withering with each breath of air now. … _can't stop…._ She had barely escaped with her life when she began her flight on foot. Fear and adrenaline gave her the edge she needed at first to get out of harm's way. Then her years of physical training enabled a steady, careful pace through the rainforest obstacle course.

Out of habit she lost herself in the run, running for distraction to try to focus her mind and help her cover a lot of ground quickly, which she hoped would help her handle the overwhelming alarm she felt through the Force before she felt her team quickly fade from existence. She had never felt the Force flow through her so strongly before, and somehow she had eluded death and capture in a mission where _she_ should have been the saboteur, that was apparently compromised. The currents in the Force led her from the compound and deep into the rainforest. As she felt her strength drain and her arms begin to weigh her down, she realized she'd not paid attention to the Force recently.

She slowed to a brisk walk and closed her eyes, feeling trees around her, the wildlife audience, and a stream up ahead… she found a little more strength until she made it to the stream, then hastily cupped water to her mouth, and then splashed some on her face. Her throat hurt; the water was refreshing especially for her lungs that began to burn once she stopped running; she realized her clothing was wet with perspiration, rather unbecoming for the dress she wore; a dark blue, hooded dress with gold trim, all over a green bodysuit; she closed her eyes again to feel the Force, trying to sense danger.

At first she could only feel the vegetation and wildlife immediately around her, her own heart pounding hardest of all, then she remembered Matthster's constant prodding, "Fear, _any_ fear, will keep you from full mastery of the Force." She stood and walked along the stream, easily now to relieve her mind of anxiety and fear, listening and paying attention to what she could feel. Gradually, she felt her awareness expand, though it did so in a way she had trouble understanding. She felt the same danger she felt earlier again, though it was afar off; but it was still looking for her; she needed to move on.

She could feel a definite danger seeking to intercept her, closing in. In the distance she heard a ship's engine roar softly, and then fade back into the ambient noise as it passed. Focusing more, trying to let go of her fear, she felt the Force flowing strongly with the stream, so she would follow along its banks, trusting the Force for all she could comprehend. She prodded along until she happened upon a shallow waterfall with a steep precipice nearby. The land near the precipice was clear of the thick foliage and larger plants she had waded through during most of her run. The danger would come, but she would meet it here, or die.

She knelt down, then settled for sitting cross-legged to stretch her legs some, closed her eyes and let the awareness of the Force flow through her. She could sense malevolence nearer, and a presence she didn't quite expect out of it: her brother, Jev. Throughout her life, she could only ever sense vague emotions from others in the Force, but she always seemed to connect more closely with her brother.

She sensed Jev's uncertainty as he acknowledged her presence, and then felt warmth and confidence flow from him, but the Force still flooded her with danger for her life. Jev was always able to help her understand her experiences with the Force better whenever she learned new things. He was very affluent in using the dark side of the Force, and always showed faith in her ability with the Force, though until now she only ever exhibited small ability with it. Jev had pushed Thera for years to fight harder, and build acrobatic skills when they were younger. Eventually Jev was recruited as a Sith apprentice, and she didn't hear from him again for more years, during which time she continued training and practicing, sparring with the ruffians of her homeworld, Roon, until the Sith returned to recruit again.

Thera had been singled out early by the recruiters, no doubt due to her brother's influence, and she had prepared herself as a cunning warrior as she easily defeated other contenders who sought the glory of the Sith. Lord Matthster, the Sith recruiter, had been skeptical of her due to her weaknesses with the Force, but her physical ability, as promised by her brother, won her the slot. She was a talented warrior, with her small Force ability to give her an edge over others non-force-sensitive, as well as more adept force-sensitive candidates who relied upon the Force too much for resources, "...a rookie mistake," her brother had explained. Jev had been her biggest inspiration, and hopefully he could help her through the mess she was in now, but the danger would reach her first.

Two Sith warriors approached on foot, determination driving their every step toward Thera. She tried to relax, to let go of fear. As they came upon her precipice, she felt a surge of confidence from her brother, then suddenly she knew one of the warriors was no match for her, the other she would have to be quick to best. She opened her eyes and stood, facing the two. She sensed anger build up and radiate from them as they prepared to engage. She felt their tactic, and knew she must wait. The foremost leaped, high into the air, she reached her hand out to follow him, still unsure when the strike would happen. She let her lightsaber fall into her grip, igniting her magenta blade as the first landed, igniting his own red blade in response; he was the one who would be the greater challenge. The weaker Sith ignited his lightsaber a moment later. _Her_ blade was actually one she had salvaged from a dying Lord Matthster after her own red blade had been destroyed in an explosion during the confusion at the compound. He wielded his own red blade along with the magenta blade, which he apparently "appropriated" from a duel with a Jedi Knight long ago.

The first Sith warrior drew back, as if waiting to time his strike. She needed him to act too soon, so she turned toward the latter tilting her stance in his direction. Thera surged anger through the Force, a distraction technique that worked on her brother when they sparred together, then swung recklessly at the latter, who easily dodged, raising his blade to bring down on her, as the former thought to seize opportunity and hurled his blade at her for a quick kill, as she hoped he would. Thera dropped her upper body in time for the saber to miss her and strike his companion; she had to hurry before he called his blade back to his hand, which would be fatal for her. His blade flew toward him, as did Thera, who grabbed his blade out of the air, then spun the two blades, relieving the warrior of his limbs, all of which fell to the ground; the Force was with her.

"Traitor!" he shouted, "Others will come! Stronger!" he seemed to hurry, "You will not be so lucky again…." He fell into silence as shock set in. Thera extinguished the blades, sighed with some relief, collected the third lightsaber, and then felt for her brother through the Force. Jev met her with warmth, and then withdrew. Thera extended her awareness into the Force, feeling content with the danger now past, but she sensed more danger still aloof, a long, elliptical threat that could potentially end her life. _Why am I the traitor, when someone clearly compromised the whole strike team_ she wondered? The Force seemed to flow once again with the stream, so she continued to follow it.

The rainforest slowly faded into a simpler forest, thick with trees and less wildlife, but now she could tell she was nearing a city. Cautiously she slipped into the city, and did her best to blend with crowds of beings who happened to be out and about the city during what was apparently some sort of open market that seemed to attract customers from several different worlds. She had little trouble keeping unnoticed, and was able to redirect through the Force minds of any beings that began to show interest in her, an early skill she learned after being selected as a Sith Apprentice. She had no resources besides her weapons, so she had to use her mind influence to get some food. She found a secluded portion of an alley to rest and determine what she should do next. As she did, she felt a strong gaze come upon her, startling her at first, until she realized her Force redirection seemed to have little affect; she would be bothered, then.

She sensed fear and anger pressing upon her, and then realized it was another Force user, probably Sith. The last Sith had labeled her a traitor; this encounter should tell her more; she needed intel to figure out what went wrong at the installation, and how to regroup safely and continue discipleship with the Sith, re-apprentice to another Sith Lord. Hopefully this would be her conduit to learning to use the Force more effectively, especially since she finally began feeling more in tune with its currents; she had a much better chance of advancing now. She would be able to join her brother as a Sith!

"Thera!" a voice called out. She glanced down the alley to see hooded figures coming toward her, and she picked out her brother bringing up the rear, five figures total.

"What sort of mess have you caused, now?" asked Jev, "And you killed two men. Are you ready to accept your destiny?"

The entourage paused and shed their Sith robes and methodically withdrew their lightsabers; Jev left his robe on and stood poised as if to oversee what would transpire.

"I don't understand, Jev! We were set up!" She stood and observed the figures as they arrayed themselves before her, felt their anger.

"Clearly there's some sort of misunderstanding; I…." she trailed off as she realized the futility of the conversation. They were here, like the two earlier, to execute her, but she struggled to understand the apparent betrayal, and poured her despair into the Force to beg for clemency from her brother.

She locked her gaze on Jev's eyes as the four others brought their red blades to life. He smiled at her, "You might have made a good Sith. Don't resist your destiny!" he said coolly. _Don't resist your destiny_. He had said that to her many times before, usually when she wanted to give up practicing with the Force. She suddenly felt confidence from him. She began to sense her executioners; a Zabrak with a curved hilt, a yellow-skinned tattoo-faced person, probably a Mirialan, wielding a double blade, and two other Humans carrying standard blades, besides her brother.

"A pity!" muttered the Mirialan.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" muttered one of the Humans, who looked particularly striking in appearance, igniting his blade, radiating anger into the Force and advancing slowly toward Thera. The other three followed suit and began to fan out around her. Thera pulled out her blade, and dropped the two she retrieved into her left hand, igniting all three, and bent into a defensive stance, eyes on the Human advancing on her.

She easily ducked away from his fierce swing as the Zabrak closed in next swinging his blade above his head for a heavy blow. She spun as she ducked, launching a red blade into the Zabrak's abdomen, and parried another swing from the Human attacking, which seemed to surprise him, as she reversed his momentum, leaving him open for her to sever his head at the neck. The Mirialan, seeing her ability to resist their onslaught, challenged her with rapid blows, trying to overwhelm his opponent. Jev had taught her how to meet overpowering opponents with a series of feints to mislead opponents into overconfidence, which, he warned, worked against all but those who were highly skilled in their lightsaber art or were well in tune with the Force. The Mirialan fought with intensity, but not enough skill, and eventually gave Thera an opening to thrust her blade into his heart.

The other Human, realizing now that this would be anything but quick and easy, and that she had been underestimated, began circling with her, keeping a safe distance, looking for an opening, filled with anger, contempt, and some humiliation he was trying to hide. She felt the Force currents between them build, and then saw his arm begin to spark. Her eyes widened as a moment later lightning leaped at her from his arm. She felt some of her upper body muscles twitch in pain as she swung her magenta blade to deflect the bolts. He then stabbed his blade quickly, forcing her to dodge. He worked his way closer to her as they exchanged blows, driving her back, fighting systematically to avoid the mistakes of the others, drawing upon the Force to meet her tactics evenly.

He fought patiently, but she felt his determination building, and slowly she knew he wouldn't last much longer. They locked blades and he shoved her against the wall of one of the buildings. With lightning speed, he caught her off guard with a feint then locked blades with her again, pinning her against the wall. As he raised his arm, Thera saw his tactic. He had sensed her fear of lightning, and was engineering a way to use that fear against her. She jabbed her knee into his stomach as hard as she could, knocking the wind out of him and cracking a rib. She batted his blade safely away, and then sequentially relieved his abdomen of each appendage, ending with his head. She had almost forgotten her brother, who had held back to observe. She extinguished her blade and faced him with weariness in her face.

He smiled warmly at his sister, "Well done, Thera" he said. "Now, you must finish me off."

Confusion flooded into her, "I don't understand! What is going on? Why am I being called a traitor?" she pled with him, almost timid, "And why did you bring these warriors to kill me?" She felt tears begin to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Word has it," he replied, his gaze fixed with hers, "that you abandoned your role, compromising the mission, leading to the disaster and failure that ensued. The Sith are cunning, but we _do_ have an agenda, and we cannot afford mistakes or weakness." He began walking toward her. "You have clearly demonstrated skills and prowess, but you are avoiding your destiny!"

Jev's arm shot toward her and she felt herself off balance, sailing backward through the air, then smacking into the wall she'd hit earlier.

"The Force is with you, but you do not fully use it!" His arm swung out to his right and she flew in that direction into another wall. She didn't feel anything broken so far, but she winced from the bruises already setting in.

"Such weakness," she heard his lightsaber ignite as he walked toward her again, "cannot be tolerated any further! Fulfill your destiny, or die!"

As she pulled out of her daze, she remembered an early lesson from her brother to use pain to connect with the Force. The concept had seemed foreign, until now when it seemed to naturally fuse in her mind and awareness. Very slowly she felt the pain fuel the Force.

Jev's voice lowered as he stood over her, "What a pity, indeed!" he muttered.

As she felt the Force build, Thera thrust her hand toward her brother with a sudden shriek, and she watched as the Force sent him high into the air, sailing out of sight into a high up window of a nearby building. She felt instantly safer, relieved and guilty at the same time for pushing her brother so, but felt through the Force a few moments later that Jev had survived; they would meet again, though perhaps not soon.

Exhausted, she slumped against the side of the building. Everything had changed completely around in a short space of time. Earlier she was on her way to becoming a Sith Lord, like her brother and father before her. Now she was cast aside by the Sith, and alienated by her brother, and the danger to her life still loomed in the Force. She finally released the tears from her eyes as she slowly lifted her head, and suddenly realized a blaster rifle was pointed at her face less than a meter from her nose, held by an armored being wearing a helmet. Her awareness snapped to full throttle.

"Get up!" the being, probably Mandalorian, said. The helmet's vocabulator made it difficult to tell the gender of the being by voice, but it sounded male. She immediately complied, hands splayed.

"Are you a Jedi, or Sith?" He asked sharply. Thera made no reply, but closed her eyes and felt for the Force.

"I said…" He was asking too many questions; she felt through the Force that she would survive this. Cutting off his question, her arm flew across batting the barrel of the rifle away as it discharged two shots harmlessly into the wall behind her. She immediately spun into a kick and knocked the rifle from his grip.

The Mandalorian was quick to act, charging into her, pinning her to the wall. Before he could pin her completely she turned her body to redirect his momentum. They both crashed into the wall. Thera forced herself back from him, and his hand darted for a hold-out blaster. She batted the blaster out of his hand, and immediately he caught hold of both of her wrists. She broke free with her left hand as his grip tightened on her right. His now free hand reached for another hold-out blaster. She caught his wrist and held the blaster pointed harmlessly away.

Determined to prevail, the Mandalorian raised his arms and spun once – neither of them let go – then spun again. This time they lost their grips on each other and locked each other's arms back-to-back. She noticed a vulnerability in his armor near his rib cage and dropped her elbow into it as hard as she could. He buckled slightly, but with a yell he clamped his arm around hers and flipped her over onto the ground in front of him. She managed to land gracefully on all fours, but sensing her own disadvantage now, she rolled away as flames shot from his arm and caught part of her dress on fire. She continued rolling to put out the flames, and then shot her arm out toward him with the Force, and his body lifted high into the air, sailing away from her like her brother had moments earlier.

She sighed, exhausted, and tried to draw strength from the Force through her physical pain and fatigue. She felt the dark side swell within her limbs, almost making her dizzy. She trudged nearer to a wall and collapsed.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_How did I let myself fall for this!_ Peri was still in shock, as he neared what seemed like the end of the line, trapped in an isolated alleyway, a quarry caught by his own quarry. He always followed details to the bitter end, which others found a caustic trait in him, which was why he worked alone these days, but never anticipated quite so fatal results in the details he dared to follow.

But now he faced informal execution. He had been trailing a network of various warlords and interplanetary incidents across the galaxy's outer rim, looking for intel to take back to his home world of Corellia. Corellia had recently been targeted by and barely defended against a small Sith skirmish force, and Peri had a nagging feeling that something could be found to use against the Sith when they returned, or any other marauders from outside the galaxy core threatening Corellia and other worlds near the core's edge, something to make Corellia less of a target of opportunity. He personally believed that any entity owned a weakness to exploit, and had hoped to convince his government agency that he could find such a weakness. Peri's superiors expressed little faith in his hunches. Rejected, he went rogue, leaving the core behind to sift through webs of puzzle pieces. Finally he thought he was stumbling on to something promising, trailing a crime ring around the outer rim to Mandalore, when he apparently tripped someone's trip-wire, landing him here, now, on his knees with the muzzle of a blaster turned his way, with no way and nowhere to run, no backup to help him, and no one to witness his death but his executioners.

His captor was a green skinned Twi'lek female, Lady Gosell, a smuggling ring underlord who he'd been searching for, along with her partner, another Twi'lek, male, didn't get his name, and a bounty hunter, probably hired help, in full battle armor, complete with helmet and jet pack.

"As you can see," began Gosell, "I am a very private businessman," she shook one of her slender head tentacles from her shoulders and straightened her loose-fitting blouse, as if preparing for an inspection, "and I don't like loose ends or taking risks when someone I don't know is discovered listening in on one of my private affairs." She sounded almost rhetorical. "I'll make this quick," she said almost seductively, raising the blaster to point at his forehead…

"Well, hello there!" came a new woman's voice. Gosell's blaster arm snapped toward the newcomer, a Human woman, wearing a badly burned, torn and ragged, blue dress with scorched gold trim, waving her hand.

"You should feel very afraid to pull the trigger," the woman calmly stated, as she treaded her way toward the small gathering. "I shouldn't have a second thought," Gosell bellowed, clearly distressed, but maintaining her aim on the woman.

"Who do you think…," began Gosell, when the woman, still advancing, cut her off, "I'm _sorry_, but I am afraid I _must_ take this man from you for transport off this world; you have no further need of him."

The male Twi'lek leaned in toward Gosell and whispered something, wherewith she drew back her weapon.

"I will not waste my time with you, and I detest being interrupted," she said with a grin, "but I shall enjoy watching my hired help prove his worth."

The bounty hunter nodded, brought his sidearm to bear in a show of response and power before his employers. Then suddenly something lifted him a couple meters into the air. With the sound of an oddly familiar snap-hiss, the two Twi'leks turned back toward the apparently hostile woman.

"Jedi!" Gosell snarled, and immediately fired two shots, easily deflected by a magenta lightsaber. The bounty hunter's body soared into the male Twi'lek before he could withdraw his own weapon, knocking both of them to the ground with the sound of bones breaking.

"I am _certainly_ no Jedi," corrected the woman.

"I'm sorry I could not satisfy your preconceptions, but that no longer matters," she continued, as she raised her arm, lifting Gosell helplessly into the air.

"Wait!" Peri, sensing things getting out of hand a little too fast, stood and stepped over to the woman, "I need her, alive and well!"

The woman glared over her shoulder, maintaining Gosell flailing in the air, "She is weak and serves no use!"

"That may be for you, but she is vital to my investigation!" He had worked too hard to let something like this slip away from him. He didn't understand what was happening exactly, but, grateful for the luck of this unlikely rescue, he knew when to seize an opportunity.

After a brief pause, she dropped Gosell with a tumble and waved her hand, and Gosell slumped over, unconscious.

"She'll be fine," reassured the woman as she extinguished her blade.

Peri stood, stunned, yet relieved, to be alive, and to actually have an additional piece to his puzzle, while staring at a mysterious, beautiful young woman who carried a lightsaber, and apparently needed his resources.

He noted that she was rather emphatic that she wasn't a Jedi, but she hadn't used a red colored lightsaber typical of Sith either.

"I don't believe you are native from this planet," he began, "What are you?"

She stood there, arms folded, gazing at the ground, as if silently considering her response. "I'm a vagrant."

After a moment of consideration, Peri responded, "But you're not a Jedi?"

The woman did not stir.

"Are you a Sith, then, or some sort of Dark Jedi?"

"I was Sith," she said, almost whispered, as if pondering the meaning of her own words.

"_Was_ Sith? What is that supposed to mean?" questioned Peri, growing instantly uneasy and irritated. Sith were known to be dangerous, were part of the reason he came to Mandalore, and were not too trustworthy, unless they threatened you. He had rather hoped to avoid any direct encounters with their kind. This woman was turning out to be instantly more volatile than he first thought. Patiently, he waited for her to respond.

"I had fought as a Sith, as an apprentice," she began, softly, her gaze remaining fixed upon the ground.

"I was betrayed," she glanced toward Peri, "and now I wander wherever I can for safety."

"For safety?" Peri repeated, a million thoughts and implications pouring into his mind.

"You're a _fugitive_, then, from the Sith?" He turned from her, some amazement along with some realization building inside of him, "… and you expect transport offworld from _me_, wanted by the _Sith_? What sort of bounty have they set on you?" he asked, turning back to face her.

His anxiety continued building. Waving his arms, he said, "No! I'm..., I'm not suicidal; I refuse to take you anywhere! I'll be collateral damage for sure; you only need me to get wherever you're going, at least until I suit your purposes, and then I'm as useless to you as Lady Gosell there! How do I know you won't just kill me later?" he bellowed.

"I won't kill you later!" she replied as calmly as she could, her own irritation beginning to build.

"Right! So, why me, then?" he demanded, gesturing around him, "It's Market Day here in Keldabe, and I know for a fact that there are many starship and freighter pilots here today, capable of offering you more than adequate transport, and I don't particularly want any company, especially none that could potentially get me _killed_!"

"_Get_ you killed?" she fired back, gesturing toward Lady Gosell, "You seem perfectly capable of accomplishing that all on your own!"

He snarled, "That may be, but I didn't see it coming, and if I am to die, I prefer not to be hindered or harassed at every turn by fear, anticipation and certainty of it!"

She planted her hands to her hips, blinked a few times and shifted her weight. He sighed, and then continued, "How did you even find me? This spot is remote from anywhere you could have been looking for pilots; I didn't even know this spot existed until now…"

"The Force led me to you," she cut in softly, yet forcefully.

"The Force led you?" he echoed, "Is that supposed to be some sort of superstitious omen or ridiculous persuasive dogma?"

The woman stood motionless, turned her gaze in a fixed, dead stare into space, concealing any emotions as she deliberately worked to calm her chagrin.

Peri had heard of the Force and held many suspicions and questions about what it really was. He knew that it was somehow associated with Sith and Jedi, some sort of supernatural ability, but this strange, beautiful woman didn't seem the most forthcoming with information. This just wasn't going to work out.

"Look," he began, a little more solemnly, "thanks for saving my life, really, but I really can't help you," he said, at last.

He turned and stepped carefully over to Gosell, intent to carry on about his business, beginning to work out the best way to relocate his unlikely prisoner to his freighter's hold. His droid, T3-D4, was still back at the ship, out of comlink range; Gosell didn't look too heavy; he could just carry her…

"I will protect you," the woman said, still motionless.

Peri decided to ignore her. Afraid of being tagged by the Sith, so prevalent in this part of the galaxy, and being hunted down as an accomplice, this partnership held no foreseeable benefit for him. Pushing the idea away, he bent down to lift Gosell.

"… as payment for transport..." he turned Gosell to better lift her, "… from the Sith, or any other danger, and until you deem the debt fulfilled."

Peri paused, sighed as his stomach began to knot. _A would-be Sith bodyguard in exchange for transport and near-death; on the other hand, if I play my sabbac game right, she may be a valuable resource; I can't believe I am going to do this!_ He stood up, closing his eyes tight, fighting against his better judgment, and then finally turned back toward the woman.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"I am Thera," she responded warmly and relieved, moving at last, making her way to where he stood.

"Well, call me Peri."

He gave her a sideways look, "But don't think that I will take any orders from you, just because you have all those Force powers, a lightsaber, and you're beautiful; I'm only giving you transport to wherever your going whenever my agenda supports it!" he warned, "… and no mind tricks, either! I know well enough about all of that nonsense," he added, though he didn't dare admit that he might not know if he were being influenced just then, not that it may have mattered, they both knew.

"As you wish," she said with a nod and a grin, "and I promise not to warn you when I decide to kill you later," she added, grinning when she saw him freeze and look up at her worried. "Just kidding!" she promised, winked and poured a sense of reassurance into the Force for Peri's sake.

"Not very funny!" he replied as she chuckled. Sensing her reassurance he gestured to one side of Lady Gosell. "Help me, will you?" he asked. Together they hoisted her and began hauling her back to his ship.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_This may turn out to be a beneficial deal after all! _Peri was feeling more and more clever as he piloted his freighter into Mandalore's upper atmosphere. He now had a prisoner who might prove to be a link to the crime ring he'd been investigating. He also now had an unsuspecting Sith whom he could interrogate informally to gather information about the Sith and hopefully find some weakness to their culture to bring back with him to Corellia. His droid, T3, beeped a ready signal from the nav-station indicating that the coordinates for the hyperspace jump were locked into the navicomputer. To make his new plan work, he needed a little help. Now he was waiting for one of his contacts to answer a page he'd sent out earlier.

"So, what are we waiting on?" asked Thera.

_A little impatient, are we?_ "I'm waiting to make contact with an associate of mine," replied Peri, as he made adjustments to a higher orbital pattern above Mandalore.

"Aren't we in danger the longer we stay in Mandalore's system?" inquired Thera. She felt more and more uneasy as her danger sense in the Force was growing. They had been in orbit for almost a whole standard hour, accomplishing nothing else.

"I am quite aware of our predicament," said Peri. _More aware than you realize, yet. _While procuring supplies before they launched, Peri had discovered that a generous bounty for Thera had indeed been posted in a café packed full of bounty hunters, wanted dead for treason. A few copies of the posting had already been removed.

"What's your plan for Lady Gosell?" she asked.

"She will be interrogated," said Peri.

"Why not interrogate her while we wait?" Thera pressed.

"I won't be the one interrogating her," Peri responded.

"You work with someone, then, this contact of yours?" she continued to press.

"No, I work alone, primarily," his irritation with her was growing. Since she was talking, he needed to try to redirect this conversation, _but she's making this difficult. _"I have a contact who helps me with this sort of thing, but I haven't heard from him for some time; once we establish contact and a meeting place, we'll be on our way."

"What if he doesn't respond?" she asked.

"He will!" Peri punctuated each word. This smuggler was very reliable and easy to reach – that was how he managed good business. Thera raised her eyebrows at him, and then turned away in the copilot's seat to stare at the silhouette of Mandalore as its large moon, Concordia, slowly emerged from behind. She felt a small sense of relief to be drifting away from this place, but it was slowly giving way to anxiety as the Force kept sending pulses of danger through her body.

She let her mind drift as she thought back on her master's teachings to try to calm herself. Her master, who had perished in the recent events on the planet below, was a Chiss woman, Lady A'pratti'ka, Dark Lady of the Sith. A'pratti'ka had demonstrated remarkable control and precision in her use of the Force. One of her first lessons had nearly killed Thera when A'pratti'ka taught her to let go of her own fears with her use of Sith alchemy. She also reflected on their strike team commander, Lord Matthster, who had given her personalized mentorship during rare opportunities when they were alone. He wasn't quite what she expected in a Dark Lord of the Sith, but he had expressed confidence in her ability and potential on many occasions.

They were both gone now. She allowed anger and sorrow for their loss to flow through her to flush out her fear and open herself up to the Force. Peri was communicating now with his cohort; she ignored him so as to stay focused on the currents in the Force. She was amazed at how much she could sense, whereas before, learning from her brother, she barely relied on it because of fears she had then, and also because of the amount of effort and practice she put into physical training. She had finally learned to use telekinesis as a weapon, along with Force-enhanced jumps, but she could sense what felt like a whole other world, just beyond her grasp….

"Okay, T3, he has the rendezvous location. Standby for the jump to lightspeed," Peri said, as she drifted back from her thoughts. She held her gaze out the viewport and watched as the thousands of stars in space suddenly illuminated into thousands of bright parallel streaks as the ship plunged into the blue-lighted kaleidoscope of hyperspace.

"There," Peri turned toward Thera, "Now you can feel safer." She kept her gaze out the viewport. "They say that staring at that for too long is bad for your sanity," he added smoothly. She didn't stir. He noted how stunning and lovely she looked, even with her stoic expression.

He was able to find her material for a new outfit while rummaging through Keldabe. She insisted on maintaining her dark green body suit. Now she wore over it what used to be a crimson colored kama. "Warriors wear this in battle to protect their legs from shrapnel and other opportunistic projectiles, _and_ it also prevents the spread of said projectiles in the unlikely event that the wearer triggers the blast", the saleswoman had told him. It seemed reasonable, then, since he couldn't find many clothing items for her height or build. Making a few strategic cuts, she had converted it into a vest, held about her by a leather belt with a gold buckle. Her breathing stayed even as she maintained her gaze, unconcerned.

He shook his head, then sat back in his pilot seat, "In further answer to your earlier concern, My contact is a smuggler of sorts, and once in awhile we trade favors, to include cross-interrogations, the idea being that cross-interrogating would present enough objectivity to the event to reveal things that otherwise might be missed or misleading." Thera nodded a response. Interrogation must be some sort of art for them, then.

"So where are we meeting this smuggler?" she turned back from her hyperspace gazing.

"Ord Mantell. We have a few loose ends to investigate and tie up there, and then I can transport you to wherever you're going, which is where, by the way?"

"Roon," she responded.

"To Roon, then," he nodded with a small touch of enthusiasm. _Time to see if I can open her up._ "So, what exactly is a Sith, if you don't mind my asking, and how do they use this 'force' that you mentioned?" he asked, shifting around in his chair, as if settling in for a good story. She sighed first, then drifted into another gaze just above the instrument panel, as if gazing into an unseen world.

"The Force is a symbiotic energy field that surrounds and penetrates all living things," she heard herself echoing Lord Matthster. "It is a power that only certain random individuals throughout the galaxy are attuned to well enough to use, to control and manipulate the world around them. The Sith seek order for the galaxy, according to the will of the Force, and to eliminate those who would oppose the will of the Force, or who choose not to live in harmony with it."

That wasn't quite the answer Peri expected, but it would do for now. "And what of the Jedi?" he asked, "Don't they also use the Force?"

"The Jedi," she grimaced, "foolishly avoid certain aspects of the Force, which leaves them vulnerable and shortsighted to all that the Force entails," she replied. Her face turned sullen. "I was only an apprentice Sith," his faced twitched with the revelation. _An apprentice,… yes, she mentioned that earlier… this may be a little more difficult than I anticipated_! "My master," she continued, "was Lady A'pratti'ka. She taught me to embrace the Force, along with my brother, Jev."

"Brother, eh?" Peri interjected, "So is the Force genetic, it runs in your family? I thought you said it was random."

"Yes, the Force favors whomever it will, but Force-users are likely to breed more Force-users, having already found favor as, yes, my family has."

"Oh. So, are there other living members of your family besides your brother, then?" he asked casually.

"I never knew my mother. My father died, though, when I was younger, at the hands of my brother," she said. _Fairly volatile family dynamics_, Peri noted. "I don't remember what happened," she continued, "but I had just reached adolescence, and he told me he saved my life. He's never talked much about it since, and I must have blocked out whatever trauma may have resulted against me." She paused for a moment, then turned her gaze slowly into his eyes, as if she suspected something was up, "And what about you?" she asked, "You mentioned you're some sort of investigator, not from Mandalore, I take it?"

Peri smiled at her, a little uneasy as this was the first time she'd looked him in the eye. _Wow!_ He thought. _Her hazel eyes are beautiful. Easy; not too much about me, not yet_, "I'm from a world on the Core's edge. My employ deals with intergalactic defense, with emphasis on information gathering, since the HoloNet has yet to be restored for some reason." He related to her about Lady Gosell's crime ring, using the topic as a decoy to avoid naming his homeworld, or revealing his intentions with the Sith, or the connections he had uncovered recently between the Sith and several aspects of the web that appeared to be about to emerge and surge against the core worlds. He tried to remember and share every boring detail, but she listened intently, eyes locked onto him, as if it was all interesting to her. He gradually found he couldn't think of a single boring detail to shake her fascination.

He was relieved when the warning beeps sounded indicating they were near the end of their hyperspace jump. "Ah! If you'll excuse me," he turned his head toward T3, "Standby for realspace on my mark." Turning back to his controls he counted down from 5, pushed forward on a lever, then the light streaks blurred back into barely visible fixed star positions in a vast, black vacuum. "T3, let me have the results of your system scan as soon as possible, long range first." Ord Mantell loomed ahead of them off in the distance of space, a ball smaller than a hand at this distance, with a pinkish hue across the day side

"Something doesn't feel right," said Thera, quietly.

"What, is that some sort of Force warning?" Peri asked, intending to downplay her remark.

"I don't know," she replied with a small degree of uncertainty, as she fixed her gaze away from him again, out the viewport at the planet ahead of them, "I just sense _something_ out there waiting for us."

"T3, how about that scan? Has anyone noticed us yet? Anything suspicious?" asked Peri.

T3 beeped twice and his readout appeared on Peri's HUD showing T3's scan results. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least not compared to his last visit a few months ago. They had come out of lightspeed far from the planet, a standard precautionary measure for Peri to avoid the uncertainty of any visceral planetary business, like a new blockade, police action, or unforeseen war of some sort in progress. A lack of the HoloNet outside the core made these sorts of things more unpredictable, especially when coming into realspace. One of those events, or a few other possibilities, may have been what set Thera off.

"If there's nothing specific you'd like to warn me about, then I'll begin to contact my associate." Peri didn't wait for a response from Thera and began creating an encryption at his communication panel. Thera sighed, climbed out of the copilot's station and made her way out of the cockpit. "I'll just be in the lounge meditating," she said, then disappeared.

When the door slid shut, Peri lowered his voice, "T3, I don't know what she felt, but let me know the instant you see anything unusual that doesn't resolve itself in, say, 90 seconds." T3 beeped an affirmative. As much as his luck had changed in the last few days, he didn't want to take anything for granted. Something had spooked Thera, and he wasn't sure how to implement measures accordingly. Now if his contact would hurry and respond to his hail…

The comlink finally chimed._ There he is!_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Hey there, Peri! Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!" called a jovial, smooth sounding male voice. Peri had to admit that as impatient as he gets, this was actually much earlier than expected.

"I'm glad you made it! I must have caught you at a good time, eh? How's the weather back on Zeltros" Peri asked.

"A little windy, actually, these days, especially around the equator; nothing serious, seasonal," he said, "Actually I was headed this way when I got your signal; had some outstanding favors to track down here, so I figured I'd see what you needed and try to get some work done on the side. How was the weather where you've been?" This was an informal code they used on the off-chance that someone managed to listen in, either sharing their comlink frequency or actually in physical earshot unbeknownst to the other party.

"Very rough, lately, actually! I was nearly killed by a typhoon; I even picked up a couple of mean scratches from all the debris," Peri answered.

"Oh! You'll have to show-and-tell as soon as we land!" He really played up the anticipation_._ "So, if we're up for the usual business, you'll be owing me a favor this time."

"I understand," responded Peri, "This debt will be well worth the trouble!"

They exchanged more code about the weather working out a landing site near a popular casino. They would meet at Peri's landing site. After signing off, Peri selected a transponder code for the planetary authorities and gave T3 landing details, then climbed out of the cockpit to go check up on Thera.

In the lounge, he found Thera at the far end in a one-armed handstand on her left hand, her right arm extended parallel to the deck, her legs spread apart, nearly parallel to the deck as well, toes pointed, her back to him, and her lightsaber floating in the air just above her right hand. Her vest and belt had been neatly piled on the sofa next to the edge, close to where he stood. He caught himself admiring her flexibility when she spoke. "Are you impressed by what you see?" She didn't flinch, but her lightsaber rose slowly higher, closer to her leg.

Trying to sound nonchalant and unembarrassed, he replied, "Oh, I uh, I mean, I was trying not to disturb you." He paused. Thera grinned slightly as she felt his awkward emotions. Neither of them moved for several more seconds, while the lightsaber twisted and rotated slowly in place. "Do you do this often?" he asked finally.

She brought her legs together, rolled methodically to her feet, then caught her lightsaber as it drifted toward her hand. "This is the first time I've done this with my weapon successfully," she replied with a smile, and winked at him, "or actually it would have been successful if I had lifted more items."

"Problems with multitasking, eh?" he asked, trying to sound casual. She nodded, rolling her eyes at herself. "You seem in a better mood. Are you feeling better?" asked Peri.

"Somewhat, yes," she replied, "I'll be able to cope."

"Good! You made me a bit worried earlier." Quite a bit worried, actually, but she didn't sound too overly concerned now, nor did she seem too clear on the matter earlier, really, so he suspected it may be nothing of consequence, hopefully. "Everything's gone well with my contact," he continued, "We'll be landing soon, and I may need your help setting up for Lady Gosell's interrogation."

Soon after Peri finished briefing Thera, the freighter began to shake mildly. "We're in the atmosphere now; I'll be in the cockpit. Don't touch anything until we land!" said Peri over his shoulder as he hurried toward the cockpit. Thera reassembled her clothing, then walked slowly into the engineering spaces to one of the cargo-holds and opened the hatch. Lady Gosell, sitting on the deck with her back against the far bulkhead, straightened up, startled with anticipation.

"What's going on?" Lady Gosell demanded.

Peri glanced across his instruments as his ship approached one of the capital city's spaceports. Noticing a couple of engine light warning indications, he said, "T3, remind me to work out getting caught up on our periodic maintenance, or we may set ourselves up to be stranded in hyperspace the next time we jump." It was easy to let routine checks slip by when they routinely didn't show much be way of material degradation, especially since lately he'd grown more distracted with his self-imposed mission. Still, he knew, letting engineering upkeep take backburner for too long could mean getting stranded somewhere far from civilization. Suddenly, a warning light he never expected came on. An airlock had opened. His adrenaline started kicking in – _I know she _didn't_ do what I think she just did_ – "T3, continue taking her down while I check on that airlock!" he said as he toppled back out of his pilot's seat and hurried aft.

He found Lady Gosell's hold opened with her eyes wide open in some version of terror, hanging on to stowage webbing with her cuffed hands for her life, her lower body dangling with cuffed ankles from the open airlock in the wind tunnel newly created in the cargo-hold he'd placed her in. _Just perfect!_ Acting quickly, he grabbed her arm and began tugging her back into the hold. As her knees made it inside, the freighter lurched, and Peri heard an explosion followed by a few wisps of smoke streaking passed the airlock. The lurch caused him to lose his balance and collapse onto the deck, a bit of the grip between them shaking loose. By sheer survival instinct he shot his legs out and caught both edges of the hatch opening with his boots. He managed to pull her into the hold and provide her with a better grip of the stowage webbing, then twisted and reached back to grab the sides of the hatch, and then pulled himself within reach of the airlock controls and pulled the activation lever. The airlock slammed shut, and the two of them collapsed to the deck. Peri barely had energy to stand, as Gosell gasped for breath.

The freighter lurched again with another explosion. "Those are laser blasts!" he said mostly to himself. He re-sealed Gosell's cargo-hold and ran back to the cockpit. Thera was right; something was amiss after all.

"Give me a status, T3" he shouted as he vaulted into his pilot station. Target lock warnings sounded as T3's readout fed across his data screen. The ship lurched again; Peri hit his funny bone on the arm rest –_I knew I should have had those things padded! _– as he began scanning T3's data feed. Three rust-colored swoops had taken position near them just after he'd left to check on the airlock, and began firing heavy weapons at the freighter. T3 had shields raised the moment they came onto the scanner and appeared to be holding for the moment, but were only at twenty-eight percent of rated capacity.

Peri took the controls and began a barrel roll, then tried a few more random maneuvers that he knew his freighter could do. He couldn't see the swoops visually, as they managed to stay on his tail, but he noticed the explosions had stopped. T3 chirped noisily, and Peri read his message. "Yes! I know! I _know_ I should have listened the last time you recommended actually _installing_ that fancy automated weapons system when I had the chance!" he barked back. "I was counting on maintaining a lower profile so as to not need them!" When he attempted to sharply change direction, two of the swoops came into view. He noticed a magenta light waving around the forward most swoop, followed by its cockpit exploding. The light waved again as it swept onto the other swoop and disappeared into the fuselage leaving sparks and smoke from where it disappeared. That had to be Thera. He dared to move closer for a better look as the second now damaged swoop began descending. The hull lurched again with an explosion, which meant the remaining swoop was capitalizing on the turn of events, still staying out of sight. He could make out Thera's form on the damaged swoop. She leapt from the swoop directly toward Peri's freighter and disappeared from view of the cockpit, but he heard her impact somewhere nearby. Another explosion sounded, but this time his freighter didn't lurch, and his target lock warnings were clear. He throttled down on his speed and slowly descended toward his destination, since the whole encounter managed to allow them to steer closer.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A lone, dark figure stepped from the shadows onto the landing pad wearing a long coat with the collar turned up. He was dressed in black, down to his gloves and boots. The black contrasted with the solid pink hue to his skin which showed on his neck and head. He gazed at the freighter approaching, slower for some reason than he was used to. He studied the details of its outer hull as it drew near. He had watched it land many times before, but this time felt different. A movement on the port side caught his eye. He instantly pulled out his visor from his coat pocket, set it over his eyes and adjusted the magnification. Someone was wedged between a couple of exterior panels, long hair, maybe female. A stowaway! _Maybe not; Peri's flying slower; he's apparently aware of his 'passenger'... maybe..._ He pulled out his modified blaster, and held it at his side, casual like.

The freighter slowed more as its landing struts extended, then descended neatly onto the pad. The figure somersaulted from the side of the ship and landed in a defensive stance facing him. It was indeed a woman, Human, and attractive, wearing a green bodysuit and a crimson colored vest. She relaxed her posture slowly and silently regarded him. He could feel her uneasiness, a great deal of focus and tension within her beautifully mild disposition. They stared at each other until the access ramp dropped down with Peri clamoring out toward the woman.

"Just _what_ do you think you were _doing_?" he shouted at her.

"I _defended_ your ship! Kept my part of the _deal_! _You're welcome_," she said evenly.

After listening to their argument continue over their lack of planning and communication, and some other confusing things she tried to turn back at Peri about someone knowing they were coming, the lone figure put away his modified blaster and decided it was time to intervene before he was forgotten.

"Peri!" he had to shout to distract them well enough, "I see you haven't lost your touch in choosing female companions," he chuckled, stepping up to Peri, "however, at least you've stepped up your criteria, between attractive looks and attracting local pirates. That's not the 'low-profile-Peri' I'm used to," he added with a smile and a wink toward the woman. "Peri's no good with introductions," he said extending his hand to Thera, "but you look familiar. What was your name?" he asked tenderly.

"Thera," she said, before she could think. She instantly felt a sense of guile. _I shouldn't have told him my name_, she thought. Cautiously accepting his hand in hers, she narrowed her eyes at him, "Thera Tykos," she said carefully, "and what is yours?"

His smile fell into a grin, "I'm no one of consequence," he winked, "really, but you're welcome to call me anything you'd like," he added, and kissed her hand tenderly.

"Well, then," she rolled her eyes and looked away, "I suppose 'hey, you' will suffice," she responded dryly as he held his kiss a moment.

"Alright, alright! Enough with all that!" Peri snapped, breaking their hands apart. "Apparently you haven't lost _your_ touch either, always a lady's man!"

He shrugged, "Hey! At least _I_ make _great_ first impressions." He glanced back toward Thera in time to see her turn her back and begin walking away. "So what do you have for me, Peri" he asked.

"I'll show you," said Peri, leading the way back into the freighter. "Come aboard and I'll explain."

Thera slowly wandered toward the edge of the pad, listening as their voices faded and began pondering over Mr. "Hey, you." Very odd, she thought. When she couldn't hear them anymore, she closed her eyes and followed their presences through the Force, working on telling them apart. After awhile, she felt them exchange strong, focused, angry and defensive emotions with Lady Gosell. She could feel Peri's friend stand out like a beacon in the Force with his soothing disposition. Their emotions seemed to flow steady, calm, irritated, and then anxious, and then repeat more or less, so she left them to their business and started exploring the small landing pad. Clearing some tools off a nearby workbench, she hopped on and sat back against the terminal wall to relax and ponder. No other beings or droids appeared to be about. This place must have been abandoned or private owned. Convenient meeting place, then.

Her mind drifted to the super-modified blaster that 'Hey, you' was holding when they touched down. His coat seemed bulky enough, probably concealing other gadgets he may own. She had picked up skills with electronics in her youth living on Roon, particularly with small devices. His blaster gadgets were appealing to her, which was why she allowed him some small fancy, _for the time being at least_ she rationalized.

His blaster's muzzle had an odd extension, probably for something like accuracy, silencing or range enhancement, along with what looked like laser targeting protrusions, and a small scope on top. _Seems a little redundant; must be something else to it_, she thought. His skin was bright, solid pink, probably a Zeltron, then, especially given his apparent disposition toward impressing females. He was probably using pheromones, typical of Zeltrons, to help him interrogate Lady Gosell, conveniently female.

As she pondered further, though, something didn't feel quite right about the "welcome" they ran into before they landed, _"local pirates," he said_, but the impressions she had felt in the Force before the encounter seemed like more than that. She couldn't quite figure it out. Perhaps this smuggler had something to do with that. He sounded rather casual about it all, and withholding his name was remarkably out of place. She would mark that suspicion for later.

The encounter, though, had been good calisthenics for her Force skills. She had almost lost her lightsaber when she launched it at that last swoop, since it took a lot of effort to hang on to Peri's freighter, and she took a gamble knowing she still needed practice at pulling objects to her using the Force. He was pretty mad at her for endangering Lady Gosell like she did, but she knew Peri would get to her in time.

An emotional spike of anxiety in the Force disrupted her train of thought, probably from Peri. As she refocused on the trio, she felt their emotions beginning to shift around. She hopped off the workbench and headed toward the boarding ramp. As she drew near, Peri and his friend bustled down, and met her a few meters from the ship.

"We've got some information..." started the Zeltron.

"...and we may need your help," added Peri.

The plan seemed simple enough; nothing complicated or potentially dangerous, really. Peri and the Zeltron showed up separately, Peri gravitating toward the dining area to observe, while the Zeltron went to the casino area accompanied by Thera, wearing a dark brown, hooded gown that the Zeltron somehow had stashed away in his ship's storage compartment. Thera found the gown uncomfortable, but it managed to fit loosely around her waist at least, as it was meant for a much heavier-set female. "Hey, being tall helps you not look overweight," reassured the Zeltron, just before she delivered him a punch to the gut.

Her role involved remaining low profile, but on hand as back up with her Force skills. After making enquiries about smuggling opportunities with someone representing the establishment's owners, which turned up empty – "I'm sorry," said the rep, "we don't have any available shipments at this time." – the Zeltron made mention of a weapons shipment mentioning Lady Gosell as the customer he was shipping for. "Let me go see what they have to say," replied the casino rep with a sigh.

When the casino rep disappeared into a lift chute, Thera felt a surge of alarm through the Force, and snapped her arms around the Zeltron to cover her anxiety, "We may be in trouble," she whispered in his ear. "I feel something, too," he whispered back, "and don't do that! That does things to me," he said. He scanned the casino casually, looking for suspicious behavior among the patrons. One of the bartenders, a Twi'lek, made eye contact and winked before glancing away. "Okay, I'll send the panic signal to Peri. Let's leave," he said.

A moment later, an explosion filled the entrance followed by lots of smoke and a figure rolling through the smoke, into view, and to its feet. The figure, heavily dressed in battle armor, immediately opened fire with a repeating blaster at the ceiling. Lights immediately began to spark and explode as the establishment turned into darkened chaos.

The Zeltron pulled out his modified blaster and carefully held his comlink, spoke something into it, listened, then turned to Thera and said, "Peri's making his way out! I don't think he's in danger."

"No," said Thera, "we are! Get down!"

A gambling table near them exploded into shards, followed by blaster fire aimed wildly at their position as they rolled behind another table.

Using the Force, Thera lifted a table near them and sent it sailing toward the source of the blaster fire. It exploded in the air as it sailed. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Zeltron popped up, aimed through his scope and fired one shot, then returned to cover as more blaster bolts rained in their direction. More blaster fire erupted from other corners of the casino as patrons and bouncers began to return fire.

"I _got_ one, but there's three left!" the Zeltron yelled. His comlink beeped twice. "Peri's out! Let's go!"

"Wait!" Thera shouted. She lifted two more tables and sent them sailing toward the entrance. One of them exploded in the air, the other crashed into something. "I think I got another one," she said quickly, "but he's not completely gone, yet, and one of the others got taken out by crossfire."

The Zeltron grimaced, and then pointed his gun around the edge of the table sighting his scope. He jumped to his feet a moment later, leading Thera by the hand, "The last one's making his way back to the entrance. Now's our chance!"

They worked their way through the light of the small fires burning everywhere, stepping over bodies, scared patrons and pieces of gambling tables. The blaster fire gradually died down as everyone slowly realized the intruders were either incapacitated or were gone. The Zeltron stopped in front the parade of patrons trying to escape through the entrance, and held out his arm signaling Thera to follow suit.

"We need to get of here quick!" said Thera.

"I don't know; he's probably _waiting_ for us outside! Let me call Peri," he replied. "We don't have time!" she shouted, vaulting over a card table toward the entrance. "_Wait_!" he shouted back, and hurried after her. They melded into the brave beings who had just managed to find the presence of mind to escape the building that was now filling with smoke and flames.

Outside the entrance, many of the beings seemed to disappear through a line of beings dressed in battle armor, with the last armored figure that was part of the initial onslaught inside the casino standing near a figure clad in a black Sith robe.

Thera stopped short, and the Zeltron, seeing the new turn of events, stepped in front of her. "Run!" he said to her in a controlled tone, though Thera didn't move. "Run! I'll handle this!" he said.

The robed Sith Lord raised his arm, lifting the Zeltron just into the air, then conducted the Zeltron's body swiftly sideways toward a near building. Thera shot her arm toward the Zeltron, finding him in the Force in time to reduce his momentum before he hit the building. She winced as he impacted three meters up, and then fell to the ground. He was alright; probably a little dazed.

Thera dropped her head, then closed her eyes. "Finish her, before I finish you!" Growled the Sith Lord. The armored figure next to him adjusted a setting on his blaster rifle, and then pointed it at Thera.

Thera raised her hands, then contracted them suddenly into fists. The blaster rifle made a funny noise when he pulled the trigger, then exploded before he could react, knocking him flailing back a few meters to the ground. The Sith Lord barely acknowledged the armored figure, as two of the other figures took aim with massive blaster rifles, which exploded in their arms, knocking them to the ground. The remaining armored beings looked at their blasters, regarding them with some scrutiny before dropping them to the ground, realizing their uselessness and potential danger. The Sith then shed his robe and pulled out his lightsaber, igniting his red blade. His eyes began to glow red in contrast to his pale skin. Extending his arm to one of his fallen warriors, he telekinetically lifted his body and hurled it toward Thera, who ducked and rolled to safety. When she regained her focus, she felt a surge of Force energy a moment before feeling lightning infiltrate her body, which heaved her through the air into the side of the casino. Another figure, a young looking Zabrak, also clad in black, stepped ahead of the Sith and ignited his own lightsaber. She couldn't remember seeing him there a moment ago, but she began to focus her pain from the lightning blast into the currents of the Force, and forced herself to her feet.

Peri heard small explosions from the back of the crowd he'd been watching emerge from the casino. His comlink beeped, "I need some help," said the Zeltron, "I'm directly to your right." Peri looked and saw the Zeltron waving his arm. He ran over to him and knelt down to look him over. He didn't see anything apparently broken or out of place, but he wasn't moving much. "Can you feel anything?" he asked. The Zeltron groaned, lifted his head and one shoulder before collapsing back with a sigh. Breathing heavily he pointed and said, "Thera's in trouble,"

Peri looked in time to see a Zabrak dressed in black slam into the side of the casino over Thera's head, then collapse into a heap on the ground. Something flew to Thera, wherewith she spun and disappeared as a group of armored beings crowded around her. They all seemed to fumble around in a violent tangle before she emerged from a crumbling pile of bodies swinging a red lightsaber over her head. He grimaced as he watched a black-clad figure meet her and begin fiercely driving her backward. She managed to dance barely out of reach of the attack. _She's busy; I can't help her now._

Peri looked back at the Zeltron and started helping him to his feet. "C'mon! Let's get you out of here!" he said, "Can you move anything?" Peri wrapped the Zeltron's arm around his neck to carry most his weight.

"Just help me to my ship" the Zeltron replied. "My droid can help once I get there." They stumbled together away from the commotion down a side alley toward the landing pads. "Mine's the bay just straight ahead," he said, pointing down the way.

A sudden flash of light stopped them, and they stood and stared dumbfounded as an explosion overflowed from the cavities of the docking port.

"Well, hopefully no one's done anything to _your_ ship!" said the Zeltron as they turned back and hurried down the way they'd come.

Thera parried a string of blows from the Sith Lord's lightsaber, then felt her feet leave the ground. Her breath left her for a moment, then she saw lightning engulf her a moment before her muscles began convulsing. The pain quickly rose to higher levels than Thera had experienced before. She struggled to feel the currents of the Force, regaining focus on the source of the pain. Suddenly she felt a sense of control growing over her muscle spasms before she felt herself more off balance and flying backward, the lightning dying slowly away. She closed her eyes to reengage with the environment. She felt the currents of the Force surge through her body as she neared a wall. Able to anticipate her collision, she willed herself to impact gracefully into a vertical crouch, followed by a somersault, then found her weapon in her hand in time to parry a strong lightsaber blow out of nowhere. The Force was strong with her, but she didn't know how to use it best. Instinctively, her arm shot out beneath the blades, sending the Sith Lord flying backward, far beyond yelling distance.

Just then, she heard an explosion behind her. She spun around to catch sight of the light of flames a city block away glowing from between several buildings. Getting her bearings, she realized it wasn't in the direction of Peri's ship. Taking advantage of the distance between the Sith Lord and herself, she glanced quickly to where the Zeltron had been _– he's gone; they _better_ not have left me behind_ – then broke into a run toward Peri's cruiser.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Hey!" whispered someone's voice. Why was someone waking her now? Gerrikan felt like she'd barely gotten to sleep...

"He's back from the Ring!" She couldn't quite place the voice, a little louder this time, someone female, when, with a start, the thought hit her: _you're not in Taris anymore!_ She stirred a little and sighed; _I miss that place at times like this._

"C'mon!" It was Gama, the weapons expert and pilot with the orange eyes; _still haven't figured out what race she is..._

"Alright! Give me a moment," Gerrikan responded softly, blinking her eyes. She'd rolled onto one of her lekku in her sleep – _must have gotten _some_ decent amount of sleep, then_ – which made it difficult to jump up and get moving sometimes since her lekku, though attached to her skull, managed to affect her motor skills when compressed.

Gerrikan was a blue-skinned Twi'lek. She'd grown up on Taris, a planet near the Core's edge. As an adolescent she began following her mother's footsteps in the entertainment business before she realized she could figure out electronic gadgets. She never felt she shared her mother's talent, so when an opportunity with a gang opened up requiring electronic skills, she jumped at the chance to break out of the entertainment spotlight and from beneath her mother's shadow.

She proved a fast learner with a couple of slicers in the gang that managed to engineer nearly anything the gang wanted to accomplish. Before long, she was slicing along with them, bypassing security systems, misdirecting law enforcement, and even secretly forged administrative processes once to free a couple of gang members. _That setup was so perfect; _no one_ ever suspected me_, she reflected to herself as she forced herself more awake.

But later, she was seized and confronted about her stunt by Trynt Tellos and his brother, Taban – _I _still_ don't know how _they_ figured it out; the whole thing was flawless_. They gave her an offer she couldn't refuse, recruiting her to her current position on their team. The team was part of a smuggling ring, known informally as The Ring, operating in the Outer Rim territories, and occasionally they did business closer to the Core territories to change things up when normal business was slow.

Lately, apparently, business was hectic. The Sith were running unrestrained throughout the galaxy, fighting the Jedi in the Core, or each other for supremacy. Most news was hard to come by, _what with the mythical HoloNet everyone gripes about missing, guess I'm too young for that_, she thought, _but it could be _so_ useful at times_, but she managed to slice into navicomputers of space craft they encountered and space port mainframes to collect and synthesize data. Unfortunately, this took up memory space on their cruiser's mainframe, but she managed to keep it hidden or disguised as obscure miscellaneous files. Trynt discovered she did it, though, when running some preventive maintenance diagnostics and noticed a drastic drop in available memory. All he did was comment about it to her, enough to let her know he knew about it, just enough to let her appear mystical to the crew with her access to information, mainly to help her earn respect against their prejudices and stereotypes.

So far she'd worked out the main dynamics of the crew members. Trynt and Taban were both Human. Trynt was very level headed, almost emotionless sometimes, the natural leader of the group, very diplomatic, able to tell anyone where to go and make sure they enjoyed the ride.

Taban was a self-proclaimed master of economics and price haggling. He seemed to carry a little of a superiority complex toward everyone, but he knew how to ensure any price was at least fair, if not in their favor.

Gama, the weapons expert, knew extensive technical specifications, capabilities and limitations of nearly any weapon on sight. She seemed to carry blasters for any occasion, from sniper jobs to silent stuns to heavy weapons, even ship's lasers, all with special modifications. She looked Human, but something didn't feel quite _Human_ about her, especially with those orange eyes. She was very analytical, and sometimes outspoken.

Rounding out the team, Kev'n was probably the most mysterious member; kept to himself. She had never seen a bipedal being like him before joining the team. He was something called a Yevethan. He was tall and muscular, no hair, a crest-like tuft on his chin, big, black eyes, and a dew claw that could extend from each wrist, useful for melee-combat, a secondary specialty of his as evidenced by several scars on his body. He was also apparently a gifted engineer and mechanic, this being his primary crew function. Gama usually assisted him when repairs or modifications to the ship were in order. He also owned a 3C utility droid that helped him with his maintenance. While a capable droid, 3C was more like a pet to Kev'n and the rest of the crew, not much personality, as some droids were known for. This fit nicely with Kev'n's introversion.

Gerrikan sighed as dreams of Taris drained out of her mind, and the crew profiles filtered into their place. _Time to shift gears!_ She rolled out of her rack, splashed some drinking water in her face, pulled on her bodysuit and loosely threw on her brown gown, then hurried out of the crowded berthing.

"Good morning, Gerri" called out Trynt warmly as she made her way to a vacant seat in the lounge. He always used pet names. She acknowledged him with a quick smile, adjusted her lekku, draping her two tendrils across the front of her arms, and sat ready to absorb information.

Trynt looked around the lounge as he began. "I know we've discussed moving over to Hutt Space to look for new business on fairly reliable rumors that operations there are more low key than here lately, and that's still the plan," he sighed, "but breaking away from this smuggling ring apparently isn't as easy as we thought. The Ring's got us marked, especially since we're one of their better smuggling teams, and they've picked up on some of our latest inquiries into working for the Hutts." A few looks slowly turned toward Gerrikan since that had been her tasking.

Sensing the general reaction, Trynt continued, "Now this is nobody's fault, because none of us anticipated this reaction out of the Ring, especially since, being freelance, we wouldn't have expected to be so vital to anyone's operations. That's what each of you bargained for when we recruited you, and we're not about to change." That seemed to settle everyone a little, though there still seemed to be more to settle in their faces with this sort of news.

After giving everyone a moment to digest the situation, Trynt said, "We have one last delivery to make, and this one's different from the others. Tab's going to go over details of how we intend to make this drop, and then sever our ties with this corner of the galaxy. Tab?"

Tab stepped forward and pulled up a three-dimensional star chart and began pointing out key locations and hyperspace lanes, indicated the drop location...

"Ryloth?!" blurted out Gama, "That's half way around the Outer Rim territories!"

"We realize that," replied Tab, "but the payoff will be what we _need_ to do some serious overhaul on the ship, a significant portion of which will be cosmetic to help us disappear from this part of the galaxy and start _anew_ in Hutt Space."

Gerrikan could see the makings of a relatively ordinary shipment, with the exception of the drop off location, _something else is missing..._

"All of this looks fairly standard; what's the real catch for this shipment we're doing? Why is this paying so 'big'?" she asked.

Tab looked back at Trynt, who sighed and fell into a distant grin and said, "We're moving something big this time: glitterstim." Everyone's face shifted as they all looked around at each other before Trynt continued. "I know it's not our usual cargo, but what makes this even more unusual is we're carrying a passenger along who supposedly has intel on how to successfully deliver it to the Ring's customer."

Glitterstim was a highly volatile drug known to induce temporary telepathy, and even death in larger doses. With all the rumors of its use around the galaxy, the demand was known to be high, to the point of piracy, making good smugglers a valuable commodity for suppliers.

Kev'n's eyes narrowed as he dropped into thought. Gama spoke up very irritated, "This is highly _irregular_!" she said, gesturing, "Did you forget how much trouble we got into _both_ times we've allowed transport for passengers?"

"Believe me, we thought of that!" retorted Taban.

"So where will we _keep_ this passenger?" demanded Gama. The more heated she got, the more her orange eyes seemed to glow beneath her brows.

"He won't be permitted near the engineering spaces," began Trynt, "as we learned our lessons from that, and he won't be allowed near the cockpit except for when we need him for navigation for the drop at the end of the trip. He'll basically be limited to the common areas, and one of the airlocks where we'll let him stow any personal belongings."

Trynt's comlink beeped, "In fact this is his signal that he's arrived. We'll need to be going at once; we'll be picking up our shipment in orbit."

Gama stood up, almost as if she would pounce, when Trynt held up placating arms and stopped her, "I realize this is inconvenient for everyone, but the results will be worth the effort, I promise! Let's get the ship prepped for launch!"

Exasperated, Gama accompanied Taban to the cockpit while Kev'n and his 3C droid scurried to the engineering compartment for preflight checks.

Trynt turned to Gerrikan who remained seated, "Come with me; I'll need help getting a profile of this passenger."

The two headed for the access ramp. Trynt hit the lift controls dropping the ramp as steamy mist bled from the hydraulics, swirling away from the ship to reveal a man practically hidden within a dark hooded cloak making his way toward the ramp. As the man marched up the ramp, a high pitched siren-like noise squealed as a small black box on wheels scurried up and around the man stopping at the top of the ramp where the man eventually paused and pulled back his cloak revealing a weary looking Human male with short, dark hair. The man smiled.

"Hello, there! I'm Tyr; I'm to be your guide. I hope I'm not holding up anything," he said.

"Trynt Tellos, captain of the _Black Mirage_. We'll get going right away," he replied, "as soon as we get whatever you're bringing along aboard."

"Oh," the man chuckled, "I only have my droid companion here," he said, indicating the wheeled black box that let out a short squeal on cue, "other than that, I'm self contained; I only need to know where my personal space will be," he added casually, pulling open his cloak to reveal a small satchel slung over his shoulder and a couple of high tech utility belts around his waist.

Satisfied, Trynt retracted the boarding ramp and led him back to the airlocks. He dropped off his cloak and satchel and returned to the main lounge, his droid scurrying alongside wherever he went.

He handed Trynt a datapad and pointing at it said, "This has a coded signal for the freighter handing off our shipment. Go ahead and send it on an open channel before we lift off. It _also_ contains the coordinates for our shipping destination, from where I am to navigate for you, _and_ a second coded signal for the customer receiving the shipment."

Tyr narrowed his eyes as Trynt mirrored the same movement, and said, "Now, I don't know how they do this stuff, but if you try to copy any of the data, the data will corrupt itself rendering it utterly useless. Do you have any questions?" he asked.

"Nope! We're good to go," Trynt replied cheerfully. The last bit was expected. He motioned for Gerrikan to follow and they headed to the cockpit, leaving Tyr alone in the lounge.

As he entered the cockpit, Trynt asked, "Anything good?" to no one in particular.

"Nothing yet," answered Gama staring into a screen at the sensor array station, "He's just sitting there in the lounge; looks like he's tired."

"Okay, then," said Trynt, "let's get going. He seems pleasant, but this business sure seems serious." He took his spot in the pilot's seat, and Gerrikan traded positions with Gama and began processing the datapad Tyr had given to Trynt.

Gama leaned on the center console between the pilot seats and twisted to look Trynt in the eyes, "Are you suddenly having second thoughts?" she asked, "There's _no_ alternative?"

Trynt patted her cheek softly, "Not with the Ring, unfortunately! Too many others have gone 'missing' for trying to break away" he said giving a sad look.

Gama nodded in acknowledgement and melted back to sit at her weapons station, touching buttons to bring her displays to life.

Gerrikan found the first file, easily labeled, and transmitted it on the open frequency.

A few moments later, "Transmission is complete," she said.

"Very well. Tab, status of preflight checks?"

"Just waiting for one final signal from Kev'n... and... _there_ it is! We're all set for takeoff."

"Very well. I'll let you do the honors, little brother."

"My pleasure! Here we go."

**One hour later...**

"What's taking so long again?" asked Trynt.

"They're having several technical problems with many of their electrical systems since a system power distribution mishap earlier. Two of their crew were electrocuted and are in critical condition, one of which is their ship's engineer. They're doing the best they can, considering," replied Gerrikan.

"Ask them if they require any assistance."

"Already did; I'm still awaiting their reply."

"Good. Taban, go see if Tyr has any experience with these sorts of difficulties with shipments. I don't want anything that _we_ do to go wrong. Offer him a comlink if he doesn't already have one."

"I'm on it." Taban shuffled out of the cockpit, while the others stared at the larger, battered freighter sharing their orbit in front of them.

A few moments later, Taban returned.

"They can mate with our connection tube, but they'll need technical assistance to work out delivering the cargo. Tyr says he's seen this sort of thing once before with the same crew. I guess they have a poor derby record for this sort of thing. I can take Kev'n and Gerri over to see if we can get this taken care of quickly."

"Sounds like not much of a choice. Tell them we're sending over some help. I want you and Gama to keep tabs on Tyr. Gerri, get Kev'n; arm yourselves and go over and help them; keep an open comlink channel so we can monitor over here. If we have to, we'll sack Tyr and pull out. Let's get this over with."

The whole operation was slow going, but eventually the cargo was securely aboard the _Black Mirage_. Trynt gave Gerri the signal to return, and then headed aft to see how Taban and Gama were doing with Tyr. He entered the lounge in time to see Tyr strangling Gama, who was shape-shifting wildly into various species in attempts to break free, with Taban getting up as if he'd been knocked down. In a flash, he had his blaster out of his holster leveled at Tyr and shouted, "Freeze!"

Tyr threw his hands up and slowly turned toward Trynt, his eyes fixed on the gun. "I didn't want any trouble!" cried Tyr. Gama sat gasping for air.

"Yeah, well, you _got_ it now!" shouted Taban who began to charge toward Tyr. Tyr looked worried, and then angry. His hand shot out toward Taban as if grasping the air. Taban suddenly lifted into the air off-balanced. Before Trynt realized what was happening, Tyr swung his hand at him, and Taban flew through the air, tumbling into Trynt.

Tyr ran for the connection tube as Kev'n emerged. Having heard the commotion, his blaster was aimed already at Tyr as he emerged from the tube. He fired on Tyr who caught the blast harmlessly in his hand, then, with a quick gesture of his arm, telepathically yanked Kev'n across the lounge, and into the opposite bulkhead. He scrambled for the tube, gestured again with his arm, sending Gerrikan backward into the old broken freighter. The old freighter broke off from the connection tube and began drifting away.

"They've got Gerri! These guys are _so_ toast!" shouted Taban as the crew members ran for the cockpit.

"_This_ is where _my_ game begins," sang Gama as she vaulted into her seat. "Their shields are up, but they're not moving to attack, just maintaining orbit."

"That's strange," remarked Trynt, "not that they have much to fight with. Go ahead and raise our shields anyways. Let's be ready for any surprises."

"Do you think we can get Gerri out of there?"

"I don't know! I just don't..."

Trynt stopped mid-sentence when he heard a familiar high pitched squeal of Tyr's companion droid as it whirred into the cockpit.

"...wait..." His epiphany was the last thought of his existence.

Darth Subtyr, Dark Lord of the Sith, watched with satisfaction as the _Black Mirage_ vaporized, partially contained by its own powerful shields, with whatever broke through being repelled by the old freighter's shields. He drew upon the dark side of the Force feeding upon the despair he could feel being held in by Gerrikan as she was forced to watch alongside him.

_Now, on to other matters! _He thought, turning from the viewport. "Get me Lord Cunan, _now_!" He bellowed.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Peri's ship soared through hyperspace. Peri was tending to the Zeltron in his two-bed medcenter.

"Did she _tell_ you she was a Sith?"

"_Yes_, but... she's not _exactly_ a Sith..."

"Not _exactly_ a Sith? What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"That's what _I_ said!"

"Why didn't you tell _me_ she was a Sith?"

"You didn't _ask_!"

"Has she threatened to kill you?"

"Actually she's sworn to protect me."

"I wouldn't trust her for anything!"

"She _is_ rather unpredictable."

"Did you _know_ she was wanted dead?"

"Did you know she was wanted by the _Sith_?"

"_Ow_! Cut that out!"

"Quit complaining and hold still!"

"_Easy_!"

"I'm almost done!"

"Where is she anyways?"

"She's working on the circuitry for the hyperdrive control power that finally blew on me right after we blasted out of there in such a hurry."

"Didn't you have that same issue the last time?"

"_Yes_; I've nearly replaced all the components, and I _still_ haven't got it working in full swing. Besides, it keeps her busy for the moment."

"She's probably sabotaging or breaking something..."

"Quite possible..."

"Why did you wait around for her? They nearly killed us!"

"They were shooting heavy weapons at us; had she _not_ shown up finally, they would have succeeded!"

"They almost succeeded anyway," interjected Thera as she entered the medcenter. The two of them stopped, glanced at her half surprised, almost ashamed, wondering how much she heard of their argument, then Peri continued tending to the Zeltron in silence.

"I barely escaped from that Sith Lord alive," she added perching atop the vacant med table, "and then he trailed me to the ship. We're actually fortunate that you were already airborne. _I'm_ lucky you left your ramp down."

The two were silent; Peri continuing to wrap the Zeltron's wound.

She continued, "Alright, I troubleshot and fixed your control panel; it works like new. It overloaded somehow, probably due to some local failure with the hyperdrive coolant controls, judging from the type of damage to the components I had to replace; I haven't looked at those coolant controls yet."

They still didn't look back at her.

"I could use your T3 droid to look for the problem if you want, but I need a schematic."

Peri sighed, then answered barely turning his head, "That's fine! T3 can give you whatever data readout you need."

They all continued silent for a few seconds, and then Thera finally made her way toward the entry.

"Let me know before you make changes to any configurations," Peri added as she walked out. They listened as her footsteps faded.

"I didn't think she'd actually _fix_ it, not so quickly at least."

"She's pretty handy to have around..."

"You know, she does have redeeming qualities..."

"I thought you said you were almost done?"

"I was _already_ done a few minutes ago!"

"Why didn't you _say_ so?"

"I was _stalling_ until she left!"

Suddenly they were startled by a claxon alarm. They hurried from the medcenter and met Thera on her way to warn them.

"The hyperdrive's overheating," she shouted. "We'll need to drop out of hyperspace, _and_ you're also storing..."

"...some combustible cargo in the lower level machinery compartment that we need to remove, yes! Hurry!" Peri finished, _I forgot to _move_ all of that stuff before leaving Ord Mantell_.

Peri raced ahead to the access port in the deck and pulled up the secondary deck plates. He shouted at T3 to handle dropping the ship out of lightspeed, and then jumped down, scurried to a corner, grabbed a crate and handed it – practically tossed it – to Thera who had followed him down. She took it to the access and handed it up to the Zeltron who dropped it after lifting it over the deck. Hearing the noise, Thera looked back up at him, "Everything okay?"

"I thought I had it," he shouted back, "get the rest of them!"

She turned around and grabbed the next crate from Peri. The Zeltron dropped the second crate as well, cursing under his breath. They removed the rest of the crates, Thera helping the Zeltron manage nearly every crate, until they were all secure near the lounge. They heard the hyperdrive power down and the sublight engines power up.

"I'm not sure what's wrong with me," wondered the Zeltron, "It's like I can't lift things anymore."

"That Sith Lord must have hit you pretty good," commented Peri.

"I'm sorry." said Thera, "I _tried_ to slow you down before you hit the wall; I was a little slow..." she paused.

"How did you _escape_ that, by the way?" asked the Zeltron.

She shrugged and sighed, "I use the Force to help me fight, but I'm not very proficient at using it; _really_, I was lucky" she replied.

T3 scurried up with a long string of beeps, as if everyone understood his report. "Excuse me," said Peri, "I better go check our position."

Peri hurried toward the cockpit, and the Zeltron fixed a stare on Thera.

"Simple enough answer," said the Zeltron "you use the Force; how about that?" he added sarcastically. "Anyways, how do you manage to attract a death warrant from the Sith? I mean, I know it's a cut-throat culture, but this is worse than anything I've ever _heard_ of!"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"To be honest, I haven't fully figured that out yet. I was on a mission with a team of operatives to take out an installation. Somehow our mission was severely compromised. All I know so far is that I'm the only survivor, and they're accusing me of treason."

He raised his eyebrows in mild amazement, sensing her sincerity with his telepathy. He felt himself beginning to feel sorry for her.

Thera shrugged, turned and headed back toward the engine compartment. "C'mon, T3, let's try to get started at this again," she said.

T3 chirped affirmatively and followed her away. The Zeltron made his way to the cockpit. Peri was perched up in the elevated pilot seats.

"Figure out where we are?" asked the Zeltron.

"Almost; just need a few more focal points. What did you think of her story?"

"She's telling the truth. I know that much," he said, tilting his head with a sigh. He turned and gazed up out the viewport pondering his new realization. His whole operation had acquired an unexpected slant, and how to turn things to his benefit seemed to elude him. It didn't help that, for some reason, he found himself beginning to care for Thera.

"The Force is with her," said Lord Cunan to the miniature hologram of Lord Subtyr. The image showed with better quality in the ambient darkness of the evening, away from the city lights and commotion.

Cunan continued, "She has _tremendous_ fighting ability, but she does not exhibit much _control_ over the Force. She managed to wipe out my team, as expected, along with my apprentice, though. She _barely_ escaped; my failure is inexcusable, but I must tell you we've _all_ underestimated her _potential_. She _could_ make a valuable _asset_."

"Take caution, Cunan. Lord Durus' Force visions are _not_ to be taken lightly. She_ must die_! The next time we make contact, I will kill you if she is not dead. This downsize is _key_ to the success of the Sith!"

"I _will_ accept my destiny, Lord Subtyr! She _will_ die!" He paused, then smiled and asked, "By the way, how did that mouse droid work out for you?"

Subtyr smiled mischievously, chuckled and said, "I'm making arrangements to procure _more_ of them."

Cunan returned the smile with full comprehension of all that was implied in Subtyr's report of the new droid product. "Very good!" he said.

"I'll be in touch," said Subtyr, and the hologram disappeared, allowing darkness to engulf him.

Cunan sat back and pondered on his encounter with their fugitive. Finding her would be easy with the trace he had on her. He recalled being unimpressed with her during their duel, until she hit him with her massive Force push. He began to imagine harnessing her ability, training her as a new apprentice. _After all, _he thought, _the future is always in motion; Durus could be mistaken this time; she would be an awesome asset!_

A disturbance in the Force interrupted his private fantasy, quickly melting away his smile. He was being stalked by another Force-user. He could sense anger radiating. _A Sith! But who?_ He reached for his lightsaber and stretched out with his feelings to locate the intruder.

Suddenly, he felt an attack coming from behind. He spun around igniting his blade in tandem with another red blade springing to life, then caught the momentum of the attack as they clashed lightsabers, nearly losing his balance, but he managed to bolster his defense with the Force.

His opponent followed up quickly with several rapid Force-enhanced blows that he struggled to repel, followed by a strong blow that shoved him to the side slightly, topped off with a foot to his back that he felt coming before it landed with the Force behind it. He was able to channel the Force to control his fall, semi-somersaulting and springing into a defensive stance. He made out a pair of red eyes on his opponent before he found himself being overwhelmed again with more rapid lightsaber blows that he barely managed to meet, spinning and weaving.

Suddenly he was off-balance and gasping for air. He exerted himself to counter the Force-choke, but then he felt a searing pain in his knees. He dropped to the ground onto his back and realized immediately his lower legs had been severed. His opponent stepped over him and looked down with those glowing red eyes, and he finally could make out her blue skin. He raised his arms defensively, and then froze when he realized who she was.

"Lady _A'pratti'ka_!" he said, trying not to sound too surprised. _She's supposed to be dead! But _one_ was missing... of course! _"I was just _thinking_ of you..."

"I _know_," she replied softly, flexing her eyebrows. She reached her hand out and called his dropped lightsaber to her hand, igniting it.

_This isn't going to end well_, thought Cunan as he summoned the Force through his anger, pain, frustration and desperation. He lashed his arms out toward her and unleashed a fury of lightning. She swung his blade between them to absorb the energy with his lightsaber, while swinging her arm back and launching her blade behind her, controlling it with the Force to bring it spinning through the air in a tight rotation that severed his hands, stopping the lightning. She immediately caught her blade, extinguishing and stowing it in one smooth, swift motion.

He glared at her in anger, awe, and suppressed agony. "I can sense your _anger_, and your revenge is _not_ toward _me_," he said smiling. "I have _access_ to their resources; you _need_ me to _help_ you!" he added, pouring as much reassurance into the Force as he could, desperately willing her revenge away from himself.

She smiled briefly, and then swiftly relieved him of his head with his blade.

Extinguishing his red blade, she melted silently out of sight into the nearby shadows.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_I think I've about got it!_ Thera thought, as she surveyed her mess. She had been working for hours on the hyperdrive and found a burned out coupling that needed replacing. After replacing the coupling and some damaged wiring connected to it, she found herself left with a hyperdrive motivator halfway disassembled and strewn out around her on the deck, with and no reassembly instructions.

She plugged a datapad into T3 and began searching through wiring diagrams and schematics, frustrated at how badly organized the files in his memory banks were.

"I don't know how _anybody_ fixes _anything_ with these files so disorganized," she remarked to no one in particular.

T3 beeped in disapproval.

"Oh, calm down! Of course I don't mean you personally."

T3 responded in rapid tones.

"Of course not!" she said trying to flatter the droid, "Droids at least have some sort of programming to at least store things with some discernible consistency, but _this_..." she shook her head, "this has to be Peri, or someone else who has worked with him."

T3 chirped an affirmative.

"Hmm, okay then. Do you know which drawing I need to get this thing back together?"

T3 whistled and spun his dome around, and the diagram displayed on her pad.

"Thanks, T3! You're a dream," she said warmly.

She grinned and rolled her eyes as T3 made an attempt at soothing tones, notwithstanding the high pitch.

She narrowed her eyes at T3 and said, "You've been taking lessons from that Zeltron character, haven't you?"

She got a single beep. She winked. T3 blinked his radar eye.

She shook her head, smiling, and sat down studying the display. After a few minutes she looked back up at T3.

"Okay, correct me if I'm wrong," she said to T3, "but this relay here," she pointed, "is meant to energize those circuits over there," she gestured away, "along with this time delay, so that once the field is up, the coils here power the motivator..." she trailed off, glanced back at T3 and smiled, "and the rest of it starts working and puts us into hyperspace!"

T3 chirped affirmatively and twisted his dome slightly her direction.

"Great!" She replied grabbing a couple of components off the deck. She paused and sighed, "I'm gonna try something, T3. I don't have much precision with telekinesis. This'll make an excellent challenge to work on it, don't you think?"

T3 beeped some random beeps.

Thera closed her eyes and tried to relax. She began to sense each of the objects on the deck, trying to identify each object in the Force. She reached out her hand and released the relay she was holding. It wobbled in the air as it sailed in something that resembled a spiral pattern toward the panel. She twisted her hand to turn the relay, stretching her mind further to try to sense the fit for the port it had to attach to. Slowly she moved it closer, found the mating surface, then, with a slow gesture, it clicked into place. _That was the _easy_ part_, she thought_. Now for all the _rest_ of it!_

_Wonderful!_ thought Peri with a sigh. "I double and triple checked all the data, and apparently we're in the Bogden sector."

The Zeltron glanced over at Peri with mild worry on his face. The Bogden Sector, while not known for any civilization, was highly rumored to be infested with space pirates, bounty hunters and outlaws. He could sense Peri's concern as well, but he couldn't detect any real fear. He added his own sigh, settling back into the co-pilot's seat. Then a warning light went out, distracting him from his previous thought.

"Looks like Thera's making some progress back there with T3," he said, indicating the hyperdrive control display. He couldn't help but think of how useful she was turning out to be, in spite of the trouble that was following her. He wanted to be back there helping her, but he still didn't feel up to full strength, and he was all about making a good show. _That'll have to wait, I guess._

A new feeling poked into his mind, and began to overwhelm his danger sense. "Peri, something's wrong," he said rapidly and quietly.

"What's she done now?" Peri asked, sounding irritated.

"No, it's something else..." he trailed off, squinting his eyes out the viewport. Some motion off the port side caught his attention, as stars slowly faded in and out.

"We've got company," he said trying to control his tone, "and I'm not getting friendly vibes from them!"

"_Wonderful_! More _pirates_! I really had had enough of their sort," Peri sputtered leaning forward to catch the visual. He glanced over at his sensor array and saw icons on the display moving toward their position.

"They're almost in range," said Peri, climbing out of the pilot's seat, "Shields are up. I'll go alert Thera; we'll man the laser turrets; you'll have to pilot this thing"

"But Peri, we don't _have_ anywhere to _run_! They're either going to blast us apart or raid and ransack us!"

"Quit worrying about _details_ and start flying toward one of those moons," Peri shouted over his shoulder as he hurried aft.

The Zeltron looked down at the controls, widened his eyes, then blow out the breath he was holding in. Peri was over-cautious sometimes, which never helped him out with the ladies, but he didn't waste time when he knew his life was on the line. _Must be his Corellian upbringing. _He grabbed the controls and engaged the afterburners. "Here we go," he said to no one in particular. The ship lurched as the first wave of laser bolts ricocheted off the deflector shields.

"Thera!" Peri called, as he approached the engineering compartment, "We've got _trouble_; you need to take the upper quad turret."

He climbed in and gasped in surprise seeing several small pieces of machinery floating around the motivator panel. "I _felt_ the trouble, Peri, and I'm trying to hurry! _Please_ don't break my concentration," she said calmly.

"Thera, that's going to have to _wait_! We _need_ you _now_!" he emphasized as the ship lurched again.

Suddenly, in unison, all the floating objects fell loudly to the deck and Thera turned, stepped over to him and leaned into his face focusing her irritation into Peri's mind with the dark side of the Force. "Then I _suggest_ you go rescue _Lady Gosell_ from that airlock where you've forgotten her, because if I _don't_ finish this pretty _quick_, we're going to be just one more bit of _space dust_ that the galaxy never notices in a very short while!"

Peri, backed away without changing his expression, eyes locked on Thera's. "I'll rescue Lady Gosell; you finish up in here," he said stoically and climbed back out of the compartment, nearly slipping when the ship lurched even harder than the last time. Then a random thought occurred to him; _I never realized how tall she was..._

The Zeltron yanked back hard on the controls to vector toward a small moon, and watched as the small gaggle of snubfighters overflew his position. Once their attitude was within stable limits, he gunned the throttles and began a barrel role. That last blast scored pretty good taking out a good chunk of their shielding. _Thankfully Peri invested in deflector upgrades, or we'd be floating in space already._ He heard the console comlink chime and instantly felt a little bit of relief seep into him. _Finally got those quads manned_. "Peri, with how long you take to man those guns..."

A familiar female voice cut him off, "You talk too much; just fly!"

"Lady Gosell!" he smiled, "_So_ glad you could join..."

"You know, you're _not_ as charming at a distance!"

He twisted his smile and watched as the upper quad cannon vaporized a snubfighter on their starboard flank. The two that were left on that side rolled away and began to dive. He glanced at the sensor array and saw several more forming up behind them as the snubfighter pilots realized the quad cannons were active.

Immediately he wished he was back in his own cockpit. _Curse the mercenary who blew up my ship! _The layout of the meters, displays and controls were similar here, but just different enough to prevent him from piloting more on instinct. He reversed his spin and tried to reverse his direction around the moon. Suddenly the ship shook hard, and a new warning tone began oscillating. Noticing their shields were down to below half, he pulled the ship into a straight dive for the moon's surface. _Hopefully that puts some collateral targets between us and whatever _that_ came from._ Glancing back at the sensor array, he saw a larger icon further away. Whatever it was, it packed a hard punch from appreciable range that they couldn't afford to take again.

"Anyone make out what just hit us?" he called.

"Some sort of gunship with guided missiles, long ranged." called back Peri.

"How well does this thing reverse throttle?"

"Try it; she'll hold together!"

The Zeltron continued to roll, trying to keep the quad guns in view of the snubfighters. He noticed two more explode, but the ship continued to shake with blaster fire, slowly whittling away at the deflector shields. He pushed the throttles to full and loaded up the afterburner, watching as the moon's surface grew closer.

He murmured out loud, "The hardest part about playing Nerf is knowing when to flinch..."

"You're crazy," cried a worried sounding Gosell.

_Now!_ He banked hard to starboard and reversed the same side engine, and then held his breath until the horizon finally made its way into view, mere meters above the moon's rocky surface. The cluster of snubfighters had mostly broken up and pulled back, seeing the tactic, while two more fell for the trick. One exploded, colliding with the moon, while the other skimmed the surface hard, spinning out of control, slowly disintegrating into flaming pieces.

The Zeltron engaged the afterburners and began a series of random banks. The first bank led to another missile from the gunship barely missing the upper turret, and impacting with the moon in a large explosion.

"_That_ was close!" called Gosell, relieved.

"Okay, this isn't getting better yet, and our deflectors are a smidge below twenty-five percent now... I'm failing to see a plan materialize..."

"Gosell's right," called Peri, "You talk too much! Just hold out for Thera to finish her repairs."

_Great!_ he thought. _Let's see what this baby can do, then._ He broke into a spiral climb away from the moon, and then banked straight for the gunship. _At least now I can see the missiles coming._

"Gosell's right, again," called Peri, "you're _crazy_!"

"Just hang on!" he shouted back.

The gunship was a barely visible, maybe almost a hundred kilometers away, and the Zeltron noticed that he strangely felt good about his plan, in spite of the fact he knew he was making it up as he went. A glance at the shields showed ten percent and lowering as the hull buckled under more blaster fire from the snubfighters. He continued weaving but maintained his course straight for the gunship. Another snubfighter flashed out of existence a moment before he caught sight of a missile leaving the gunship. He felt his adrenaline surge through his veins, when the next moment he noticed the _Hyperdrive Motivator Trouble_ warning light clear, and green _Normal_ lights wink on.

He sat upright in a moment of disbelief, and everything suddenly seemed to move in slow motion. He heard T3 scurry into the cockpit toward the navicomputer. He turned to watch him in his peripheral vision for what seemed like an eternity, until T3 spun his dome and squealed a long high pitch. He jerked his head back to see the heading bleed onto his heads-up-display. Calmness penetrated his mind as he spun and banked toward the heading he needed, and then held his breath as he pulled back on the lightspeed controls while watching the growing sight of the inbound missile bank to intercept them.

A moment later, the stars stretched across the viewport, followed by a rapid, peaceful kaleidoscope of blue and white light. He sat back, emptied his lungs and covered his face with his hands.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_I feel like I'm going insane_, thought the Zeltron as he relaxed back in the lounge chair and closed his eyes, feeling his hormones churn through his body as he allowed pheromones to naturally let loose, trying to absorb the feelings of the other three individuals as they all sat quietly in the ship's lounge, each staring off into the space in front of them, each in their own set of thoughts.

Peri was feeling disturbed and frustrated, his mind like an island of chaos within a sea of calm. Gosell's mind was quite the opposite, an island of peace within a sea of chaos. She seemed extremely focused on something, however she held her emotions reined in, feeling buffeted by what seemed like a flood of uncertainty.

Thera's mind seemed to exhibit the most amount of turmoil. She seemed lost – that was the only word that fit what he sensed from her – almost like an orphan. He couldn't make out any particular image of her as she was filled with sadness, hope, and darkness, determination and hopelessness – _wait, that doesn't make any sense; _she_ doesn't make any sense... interesting..._.

He opened his eyes and slowly wandered them toward Thera. Her physique was impressively easy to gaze at; he couldn't imagine she had a single bad angle to look at; _females like Gosell have to array themselves to look as good_, he thought. Typically he would melt his thoughts into fantasies of females he encountered that he hoped to achieve by utilizing his pheromones. With all that had happened, though, his imagination didn't have access to override his sense of... _what do you _call_ this? I've never gone this way before; respect..._ Gosell's voice broke his train of thought.

"I would like to know where we are going," she said looking around at everyone.

"Roon," Peri said with a sigh.

"And from there," the Zeltron added, almost to himself, "a badly needed vacation, location to be determined." He was trying to offset her focused mind in case she was using any strategy hoping to uncover whatever it was she was so focused on.

"May I ask what you plan to do with me?" she asked.

Peri broke his infinite gaze to look at the Zeltron, stretched his face a little and said, "That vacation may have to be on full hiatus," he indicated the two females with a less than subtle nod, "what with all the turns of events recently."

A confused look made its way onto Gosell's face, "Roon? I've never heard of such a place." She shuffled through her many business contacts in her mind, having conducted much business all across the Rim territories of the galaxy. "Are we headed for the Core?" she asked.

Peri looked upward, recalling the star charts he had to go through to find Roon. He had almost given in to asking Thera for help finding it, when, on a whim, he began digging through older files he'd procured earlier in his investigation of the Sith, finally stumbling onto its location in a random archive file, _something about a... nevermind._

"It's on the other side of Hutt Space, in the Outer Rim. Getting there is not a straight shot, so we'll be making a few more hyperspace jumps once we get nearer," he said.

"Why are we going through so much trouble to get to this place, Roon?" asked Gosell.

"They're getting rid of _me_," spoke Thera, seemingly without warning, maintaining her infinite gaze as she spoke, "to drop me off, as we bargained," she added.

"Ah, now, when you say it like _that_ it sounds _bad_," interjected the Zeltron, looking sour.

Gosell ignored him, "But why _Roon_?" she asked narrowing her eyes at Thera.

"That's my home," she said, still staring. "My destiny through the Force is to return to Roon," she continued, beginning to sound cryptic. She broke her gaze finally and locked eyes with Gosell. Peri started to say something, but the Zeltron gestured with his fingers to wait.

"I was born there," said Thera, "raised and trained to become a Sith. I was recruited by the Sith there. My family had either been taken away to fight with the Sith or killed. I have nothing to return to, but for some reason, I need to go back."

"A Sith," Gosell repeated quietly with a mix of awe, fear and contempt.

"No more than an apprentice, actually," Thera corrected. She sighed and looked down at her hands in her lap.

Gosell considered for a moment, looking uncertain, then turned back to Peri and asked, "Just drop her off and go? What is your plan afterwards? What am I to you now, leverage for something else?"

Peri sat speechless for a moment.

"We _had_ a plan," began the Zeltron, "but as Peri said earlier, circumstances changed quite a bit, faster than any of us thought possible."

Peri continued, "We _were_ planning to utilize the travel we needed to further our operations. Now all our operations are on hold."

Gosell smiled in a mixture of shock and amusement. "_You've_ stumbled into a lylek's den," she said quietly.

Lyleks were dangerous predators indigenous to her homeworld of Ryloth. She lost most of her family including her mother to one of them when she was a child. She was sold later by her father into a crime organization that consumed her life. She learned to be very calculating and distrustful, and gradually learned how to manipulate a perception toward her own advantage, which eventually landed her in her current role in the crime organization known as The Ring.

She had maintained a healthy dose of fear in her life since that day with the lylek for things she couldn't control. She knew all too well the reputation of the Sith, along with their involvement with The Ring. She would never admit to a few instances that she could vividly recall where she witnessed first-hand the cunning of the Sith in all their glory, and thus vowed to steer clear of ever crossing paths with them directly. Now she pieced together the gravity of her predicament – their predicament – and realized she had been finally forced across that line she had so carefully avoided all of her life with The Ring.

She stood, straightened her wrinkled jersey-blouse, primped her lekku and sighed. "Well, if you need me any further, I will be in my airlock," she said, as if formally dismissing a committee meeting. She turned gracefully and disappeared aft toward the cargo compartment.

The Zeltron sat up slowly and fixed a heavy look at Peri. "She's right, you know. If we don't make _some_ sort of plan, this trip may very well end _completely_ once we drop off Thera."

"But we don't even know what to _expect_; _she_ doesn't even know what to expect!" he gestured. "She's just operating on her destiny with the Force, which _somehow_ has _miraculously_ kept us alive, albeit _barely_ so, since all of this started!"

"Okay, but what about little things, like..."

Peri cut him off, "I already have the transponder for our arrival, made up fresh so it has no traceable history, _and_ I have all of the jumps mapped out to get us there. I wasn't originally intending to land – I was just going to send her down in an escape pod – but now I need to make a repair stop to collect some parts after our little pirate bout at Bogden, and then we might as well drop off Lady Gosell in a nearby sector somewhere, hang up our operations, purchase a new ship and retire to that vacation you proposed earlier."

"We'll need to disappear, I agree," said the Zeltron. He glanced over at Thera who sat quietly with her eyes closed. _I guess this wasn't meant to be. I'd sure love to vacation with her somewhere, like back at Zeltros; but then I hear Alderaan has nice beaches..._

"Your thoughts betray you," said Thera, keeping her eyes closed, but allowing a grin to cross her face. "You should be more concerned with getting your strength back."

"Are you offering your services?" he asked suggestively.

"No."

"Some sort of hopeful proposal then?"

"Perhaps. I remember where a tavern is on Roon near where I grew up. It offered decent medical treatment for a fair fee."

"That'll add time to our stay; it's risky," said Peri.

Her eyes still closed, Thera asked, "Wouldn't it be worth the extra available hands? You're talking about losing Gosell and I, and T3 was adequate as long as you were alone."

"She's right; I'll be dead weight unless I can get my strength back."

Peri lowered his head, _not sure if this even better judgment or not_, "Alright, we'll make the stop."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_I _knew_ this would never work_, thought Darth Syriu'us, Dark Lord of the Sith. During times like this, he allowed his mind to wander back to the days when he was a Jedi Knight. Through the Force, he could re-live those days in his mind, as if to daydream for what felt like several minutes, but in reality was only ever a few moments. The cycle was the same each time, and his resolve strengthened after each daydream.

He would recall the years when he was a young togruta, montrals noticeably uneven since he could remember, which drew attention to him from the other younglings in the Jedi temple, usually negative attention from a select few. His knowledge of the Force grew more naturally for him, though, than it did for other younglings due to his heritage as a togruta, but his aggressive feelings in reaction to the negative attention, became very apparent in his demeanor. As a result, he lived through a great deal of resentment for his peers, especially when those who mocked him were selected ahead of him to fight as Jedi Knights in the campaigns against the Sith Empire. The Jedi Masters working with the younglings managed to persuade him to persevere when he felt ready to give up. As he grew in the knowledge of the light side of the Force, he occasionally found his resentments distracting for even himself, until he suddenly realized that his aggressive feelings could be used to enhance his movements. He recognized the influence of the dark side of the Force, and decided to suppress it, which seemed to aid in his eventual selection as a Jedi Knight.

Syriu'us fought alongside many other Jedi Knights, proving a valuable asset to the enormous galactic campaign to defend the Republic against the Sith armies. However, he eventually found himself in disputes with military leaders over their inefficient use of resources, which he noted was costing them several victories. They kept telling him that he needed to consider the bigger picture, and his Jedi counterparts commented frequently to him of his darker side beginning to emerge in his personality. While he always maintained that he was following his instincts with the Force, he admitted only to himself to venting his frustrations by using the dark side to aid him in battles.

One battle finally changed everything for him. Syriu'us felt through the Force that the Republic needed to maintain their foothold in a system in the expansion region. Though certain members of his fellow Jedi Knights felt similar currents through the Force, they still followed their Republic army in a retreat ordered directly from the capitol world of Coruscant. The battle that would have been fought, that might have allowed the Republic to have a stronger hand against the Sith Empire, _even today_, he reflected, never happened.

Syriu'us defiantly stayed behind and watched the others retreat, never again to face them as friends, and joined those he no longer regarded as foes. _Any faction that will consistently usurp defeat from the embrace of victory has no purpose or vitality_, he thought often. He sought to exploit the Republic armies and the Jedi at every turn, proving mostly successful. Concurrently, he grew stronger in the dark side of the Force, finding a new sense of self as he learned new abilities mastered only among the Sith, and that were feared among the survivors of the victims of those abilities.

Over time, he was able to position himself in authority to meld the Sith armies into formidable forces by which the Republic would be forced to submit, or else be annihilated. An avid player of dejarik and chess, he considered himself a master of strategy, and he often applied strategies to intonations he felt through the Force, often successfully, especially before battle. Lately, though, he found himself feeling a small sense of nostalgia trying to organize the Sith, as with this rare conference he managed to host of some of the most powerful Sith Lords in this part of the galaxy. All of them had arrived in their own star destroyers in the dead of space, and flew an impressive variety of shuttles to the meeting on Syriu'us' own imperial dreadnaught, except for Darth Gloom, who, refusing to participate except by holo-transmission, arrived with two star destroyers.

The conference had mostly consisted of disputes over projected losses, disruption to war campaigns already in progress, whether they should be suspicious of the growing number of Jedi defecting to their ranks, whether the time available to coordinate such a complex operation as this was realistic, whether the intelligence provided was reliable or comprehensive enough for the complexity of the plans, and what assurances were to be had of success.

"I still say," reiterated Darth Ado, "I have powerful _artifacts_ that will help us conquer on _all_ of our fronts!"

A female, dark-brown skinned Zabrak wearing a loosely fit Sith robe over a black bodysuit stirred, stepping forward slowly, cocking her head, as if showing off her slender form and her blonde, curly hair, Darth Oblivia, Dark Lady of the Sith. "Sith artifacts _are_ powerful, but they are usually ineffective for the type of combat Syriu'us is proposing," she said.

"What he proposes," said Darth Gloom, "requires _vast_ resources, which may leave the security of our own territories _vulnerable_."

"This campaign would require the _cooperation_ of many more Sith Lords," added Darth Minax, from Adumar, dressed in pilot attire.

"This will take _time_, as well, to mainstream weapons production for as many strike teams as you propose," said Darth Python, a blue-skinned Pantoran donning silver and white leather battle armor.

"No! You're all missing it!" countered Syriu'us. "The time to strike is _now_! All the pieces for this push are nearly in place _already_! Darth Durus is finishing the final preparations to ensure the success of this effort. This initial strike will serve as a catalyst for the other Sith Lords! The Republic won't stand a chance against the onslaught that ensues; I have _foreseen_ it!"

"Too many Sith Lords are already headlong into their _own_ campaigns," retorted Oblivia, "Some of them are even simply insane! As I said before, gaining their support will be shaky if not unreliable," she said, looking around at the others.

The final member of the conference remained silent. Darth Durus, the Umbaran Sith Inquisitor stood motionless, his face hidden beneath his cloak. Syriu'us new of Durus' vast networks, crime rings, espionage, and his subtle galactic influence. They had seen similar visions of Sith conquest against the Jedi and the Republic, and they knew that a degree of timing was of the essence.

"They all want _power_," Ado spoke again, "And _artifacts_ will give it to them."

_Such Sith nonsense_, thought Syriu'us, "They aren't looking for _power_ as much these days; they share a supreme lust for _conquest_, and this plan promises that to them. If we miss _this_ opportunity, this war will flourish for many more years as a rotten _stalemate_. Your _artifacts_ are simply not _useful_ at this time!" _He's such an idiot!_

Darth Ado scowled and drew his weapon slowly. "Your thoughts betray you, _Darth_ Syriu'us," he snarled. He pulled a silver ornamented amulet from a hidden pocket of his cloak, "Maybe _you_ would be interested in a demonstration. Perhaps your _Jedi_ roots sway your vision of this arcane power called _Sith magic_, along with your vision of the future," he said cryptically.

"Are you threatening me with that relic?" Syriu'us asked casually, stretching his feelings out to feel the Force, feeding his power with his contempt for Ado. An alarm sense rang in his mind as he felt the other Sith Lords inconspicuously clear away.

Ado shot his arm holding the amulet toward Syriu'us with a loud shout that shook every loose item in the compartment, unleashing a blinding bolt of lightning. With equal speed, Syriu'us flicked out his lightsaber, the bolt crashing into his red blade in a brighter, brilliant display of sparks. Syriu'us winced momentarily, building the dark side within him, and then jerked his blade forward deflecting the lightning back toward Ado. He quickly freed one hand and followed up with a Force push that sent a surprised Ado back against the bulkhead. Ado landed gracefully, rolling onto his feet, igniting his double blade in time to redirect Syriu'us to the deck as he flew through the air to pounce. Ado spun into rapid feints and blows, driving Syriu'us back. Syriu'us met every strike, dancing along to the uneven but steady rhythm.

As much as he hated Ado, he didn't want to kill him, as he knew Ado had proven leadership skills on the battlefield. His personality and temperament would serve as a reliable template and barometer for Syriu'us to gage the other Sith Lords who they would surely need to rally to this cause he was driving. Syriu'us knew his own limitations well, and integrating with some of the stereotypical Sith personality traits seemed to him an acceptable weakness for himself.

He finally found an opening in Ado's onslaught sufficient to knock him to the deck. He lifted Ado with the Force, hurled him toward a bulkhead, stopping him just centimeters from it, yanking him back to an abrupt stop just in front of him, then slammed him back into the deck from where he had lifted him originally. He held his hand over him, pinning Ado to the deck with the Force, and then nimbly put away his lightsaber.

"I'd _kill_ you, but unfortunately I have _need_ of you for the time being!" he said in a hard tone. He released his hold and stepped aside, allowing Ado to stand. Ado glared at Syriu'us with a menacing expression backed by pent up anger radiating through the Force.

"This isn't over," said Ado in a low voice. "You _don't_ know the full power of the _dark_ side!" He began to circle around Syriu'us, their eyes locked. "I shall see to it _personally_ that every Jedi _dies_," he pointed, "including _ex_-Jedi!"

Suddenly his arm fell from his socket, as a red blur sliced downward out of nowhere, then through his torso, horizontally, followed by diagonally from his neck to his hip. His body parts remained suspended close together, then rocketed toward a corridor conducted by Darth Oblivia. Controls operated telepathically opening a hatch that received Ado's parts, and then immediately shut again. Some more controls operated, as Oblivia gestured, causing loud clanging sounds.

Oblivia sighed as she stepped forward from her vantage corner during the duel. "Let us dispense with such _pleasantries_, shall we?" she asked poignantly. "This brawling only neutralizes the point of this conference. Nothing a well engineered air-lock can't fix. _Please_ continue, Darth Syriu'us," she added cordially, as the other Sith Lords gathered back around.

Syriu'us acknowledged the group, felt his shorter montral where he nursed a bruise from his duel, and proceeded to identify the adverse internal affairs that existed out of basically anarchy within the Sith Empire, and how this campaign would polarize the Sith against the Republic. The overrepresented self-interest and overconfidence would temper under the focus of the campaign's existence.

Darth Python had resources stockpiled for weapons that would be needed for ground battles. He would be assisted by Darth Oblivia with military strategy. Darth Durus would coordinate the procurement of any raw materials needed. Syriu'us purposely left off Durus' ongoing effort with espionage and blackmail. Darth Minax would coordinate his armies of fighter pilots with Darth Gloom and his supply of starships and dreadnaughts. Syriu'us would coordinate and lead the first offensive against Corellia.

"Corellia?" asked Darth Gloom's holo-image, who seemed mildly shocked. "That's a senseless location to begin a campaign! _Kuat_ makes more sense; we can utilize their shipyards once we have control, and we can expect less resistance! We would be swift!" he insisted.

Syriu'us sighed, "We've already been _over_ this!"

"Yes, and you have yet to win me and my fleet over!" bellowed Gloom. "I have my own campaigns already in progress, and I won't commit my ships without acceptable _assurances_!" he added.

"How," began Darth Durus calmly, "could you be so _short-sighted_?"

Durus dropped back his hood, revealing his pale, bald face. He closed his eyes and spread his arms and began slowly waving his hands as everyone watched in awe trying to interpret the currents in the Force generated by Durus. A claxon alarm sounded from Gloom's holo-image along with voices shouting. Gloom looked worried, then sighed and folded his arms, seeming almost serene.

Syriu'us' comlink beeped, "Lord Syriu'us! Lord Gloom's star destroyers are swinging into each other!"

"Shields up!" shouted Syriu'us

"No need," replied Durus as Darth Gloom's image changed to static and then disappeared.

Syriu'us activated controls that dropped the viewport safety shield to reveal the visage of space with the cluster of star destroyers huddled loosely together. Gloom's second destroyer had been directed into the control tower of his first, completely destroying the bridge along with several levels below the bridge, leaving minor damage to the belly of the second.

Darth Durus sighed with exhaustion. Breathing heavily, he said to the group, "_That_ concludes this conference. Darth Syriu'us will lead the initial attack as briefed. I must go to Ryloth to wrap up some loose ends and finalize a few of our unspoken 'assurances'." He paused, still breathing heavy, and then turned to Syriu'us, "Don't wait for me!"

He turned abruptly and left with a swift stride leaving behind a silent audience.

"Don't' be too long," Syriu'us answered softly, as if to himself, "Your influence is vital to our success!"

As he made his way to the hanger, Durus drew upon the currents of the dark side of the Force to revitalize his strength. He was pleased that only two Sith Lords were lost during the meeting; Syriu'us would take direct control of the resources newly available by their loss. Everything was going as planned, but something felt out of place. He knew it was something he should have been aware of, but was growing irritated that he could not quite pin point what it was yet. He fed upon the irritation as he entered the hanger and made his way to his Fury-class Interceptor. _Such useful vessels_, he thought, _and glad to _finally_ have mine modified with a hyperdrive!_


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_I wonder if I'll ever get out of this_, thought the Zeltron to himself. He had spent what felt like hours resting in his rack, trying to recuperate his strength. _This whole thing was wrong from the start; I wasn't supposed to get this far into this mess._ He had his own secret in all of the recent events, and he managed to keep it to himself so far. Now everything was so dangerously out of alignment with his original plans that it no longer mattered. He felt a fear slowly seeping into his mind of being alienated in more ways than one.

"Are you awake?" asked Thera, poking her head into the berthing area. "I could sense your turmoil, and I thought I'd come check on you. Is everything okay?"

"Uh, no different than before; I'm okay, really," he said.

"Oh," she replied dropping her gaze, "I guess I'll be going, then."

"No, wait!" he almost yelled, "You... you're welcome to stay for awhile." As tumultuous and hopeless as he felt in his mind, seeing her felt like a warm, welcome change.

"Okay," she smiled, and stepped in. She wore her green bodysuit, which seemed to fit her snuggly, but not too tight, covering everything but her hands and head, the neckline cut like a blouse. He gazed at her as she climbed into Peri's empty rack across from his. She settled into a relaxed position and lay peacefully, staring at the overhead panel.

The Zeltron sighed, smiling, "I know my thoughts betray me, but has anyone ever told you how _beautiful_ you are?"

"I remember my father telling me once, before he died," she said.

"You seem pretty haunted by his death," he said.

"I'm haunted by many things."

He felt a wave of emotions ebb through her. She sighed, and then shifted onto her side and propped her head into her hand, meeting his eyes. "What haunts you?" she asked.

_Betrayal, dying, running for my life, and, _these_ days, living_, he thought. "Too many things," he said, taking his turn to stare at his overhead panel. "I really just want a way _out_ of all of this, I guess," he added.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

He looked at her and grinned, emanating pheromones, "I know. I _could_ let you make it up to me. You could come away with me, whenever you finish whatever business you have on Roon."

She smiled back at him, "And where would we go? We would need to hide!"

"I know a good place in Hutt Space, low key, home of runaways and some other influences we could _easily_ avoid."

She chuckled in amusement, "And does this '_home of runaways_' have a name, mister '_Hey, You_'?" she asked.

He radiated more pheromones, and put on a mock hurt look, "I can't tell you _now_, in case you turn me down!"

"Is _that_ how this game works?" she asked, still smiling, blinking her eyes slowly.

"I'll just have to think on that awhile, then," she said, sitting herself up. She slid off the rack, and then perched on the edge of the Zeltron's rack. He felt his heart race as she ran her hand across his chest and bent over him, holding her head centimeters from his and whispered, "In the meantime, here's something for you to think on." She tilted her head, rested her hand on his cheek and kissed him.

He wanted to hold her closer, but he didn't have the strength, and he couldn't figure out what the loud beeping noise was. He relished her lips against his, but the beeping noise got louder and distracting. _Make it stop_, he shouted in his thoughts.

The Zeltron lifted his head suddenly, Thera was gone, and a rapid beeping alarm was audible from outside the berthing space. He plopped his head back and sighed, _Great! It was all a dream_, he thought, mild dejection settling into his mind. _With dreams like that, I could sleep for a millennium._

Thera's head poked into the berthing area. "Are you awake yet?" she called.

It almost felt like deja vu, _but not quite, so frustrating..._

"C'mon; snap out of it," she added quickly, stepping in to help him out of his rack. "We have company. We need you at the helm again," she said.

_From the beaches of Zeltros to the rivers of Mustafar..._ "All right, I'm up!" he said, climbing out of his rack into his boots. "Tell me what I'm stepping into," he said as Thera helped him toward the cockpit.

Peri had successfully navigated through the last hyperspace jump toward Roon, but the last remaining stretch would lead through an asteroid field. Not long after re-entering realspace, T3 reported another ship dropping out of hyperspace near their position. Peri immediately engaged his ship's afterburners and began charging up the deflector shields. When T3 reported pursuit from the other vessel, he began charging up his quad turrets as well.

"Thera," he spoke into his open comlink with her while she worked on repairs warranted from their last pirate engagement, "We have company, and I have a bad feeling about them."

"I understand," she replied.

"I'm charging up everything to engage them; go wake up my partner and get him up here to pilot this thing, quickly, and don't forget to mention the asteroids," he said.

"I'm on my way," she said, terminating the channel with a tone.

T3 tweeted and a message appeared on Peri's display.

"You've got to be kidding me," he nearly shouted, "They're not even in _range_ for that yet, are they?"

T3 chirped negative tones as the ship lurched, its shields absorbing a small barrage of laser blasts, and blast alarms sounding in response throughout the ship. Peri glanced at the status display, _shields are holding... they can fire at long range apparently, but the ranged blasts aren't very effective... perhaps just trying to get our attention... hopefully they'll lose us through this asteroid field_.

Deciding against a direct route as originally intended, Peri banked to a different heading on a wider vector toward the asteroids, the largest and closest ones coming into view. Thera arrived with the Zeltron, and helped him into the copilot's seat.

"Do we have a visual, yet?" asked the Zeltron.

"Off the port side," replied Peri, "They nudged us earlier with some blaster fire, but we're holding out strong. They're trying to move into attack position, but as you can see..."

"...we're almost to the asteroids; I've got it from here," said the Zeltron assuming control and beginning to weave the ship through the shifting obstacle course. The ship began shaking with the random knocks from smaller objects impacting the hull.

"Thera, let's go get..."

Thera gasped with a sudden inhale.

"What is it," asked Peri, trying to decide if he should be worried; Thera rarely seemed surprised by anything. "Something good?" he asked hopefully.

Her face reflected a look mixed with confusion, worry, realization, and calm.

"That ship has _Sith_ on it," she said, "I can _sense_ them!"

Peri sighed, irritated, unable to read Thera well enough to make a decision. _This is going to be _so_ convoluted; I just _know_ it_, "Alright, _fine_! Stay here with him while I go _rescue_ Lady Gosell again," he said as he climbed out of his pilot seat and worked his way aft.

Thera settled in at the navigation station with T3.

"They've entered the asteroid field," she called out to the Zeltron, "and they are..."

"_Don't_ talk while I'm concentrating!" he cut her off, "unless you... wanna get us... _pulverized_," he muttered between weaves.

Thera took a deep breath, closed her eyes and began feeling for the Force. She felt a familiar sort of Sith malevolence, but then she sensed something else, a familiar presence that she remembered from somewhere, but not sure who, or where...

Her eyes popped open in surprise, as she felt emotions surge through her, spiraling between fear, hope and uncertainty. The ship jerked hard with another collision, knocking Thera off-balance for a moment before she braced herself on T3, who whistled in response.

"Don't _do_ that; it's _distracting_!" yelled the Zeltron. "Curse my telepathy," he muttered under his breath to himself.

She uprighted herself, and then made her way to the pilot's seat and strapped herself in. Several warning lights flashed across the heads-up-display, but the ship status was overall still healthy.

"Make yourself useful and cut out those warnings!" snapped the Zeltron.

_I've never felt him this spiteful_; _I wonder what has changed in him_, she thought as she slowly cut out the first warning light, and then closed her eyes feeling for the other warning signals. A few moments later, all of them switched to cutout simultaneously, and the warning tones stopped. She glanced over at the Zeltron and noticed his muscles twitching, his face angry and focused, his eyes darting to the several asteroids as he wove the ship around and between them.

He activated the center console comlink and said, "Peri..."

"I see," said Peri's voice, "We're coming out of the asteroid field. Stay sharp!"

Roon materialized ahead of them, almost suddenly, as they emerged from the dense asteroid field. Thera sensed the Zeltron's anger melt into resentment as he relaxed from his hyper-concentration. He toggled the mute, threw her a quick glance and said, "If something's on your mind, _sweetheart_, now's the time to say it, but make it quick."

She felt a million thoughts run through her mind in rapid succession, coupled with raw emotions, such as love, hate, disgust, confusion, conniving, and suddenly visionary.

"We're going to survive this," she said finally.

"_What_?" asked the Zeltron, confused.

"_Break_ _left_!" she shouted.

"_Incoming_!" shouted Gosell's voice.

The Zeltron swung the controls following Thera's directions. The ship shook as blaster bolts ricocheted off the aft shields and more bolts overshot to their right.

"_That_ was close!" said Peri's voice.

"They're coming around," said Gosell's voice as she fired on the Sith vessel until it maneuvered low out of visual to flank from below.

The Zeltron turned into a barrel roll, then banked and gunned the throttles. The Sith vessel maneuvered to stay in his blind spot beneath him, matching every juke and turn, grazing their shields occasionally with small blaster bursts.

"Blast it! I can't shake 'em!" He pulled a few more maneuvers before allowing an epiphany, and then turned to glance at Thera. "They're not trying to kill us; do you sense anything with that Force of yours?" he asked.

"I only know two things," she replied, "I _know_ someone on that ship, though I can't recollect _who_ very well, and they are here to collect me."

T3 beeped a few beeps, his message showing on their displays.

"What a novel idea! Thera, try to hail them, talk to them through the Force, _something_..." he bellowed.

"They're jamming our communications, and I can't _sense_ anything more with the Force," she replied.

The ship lurched, and a new alarm came in. "_That_ wasn't a blast; something's wrong!" exclaimed the Zeltron.

She climbed out of the pilot's seat and started aft. "I'll get right on it; I think I know what it is. I'll be back..." she said.

He gestured in frustration, and then accelerated into a direct vector toward Roon. _I can't shake them, but at least I can raise the price of those cheap shots they're taking at us..._

The two ships danced into Roon's atmosphere in a sort of randomly disjointed double helix pattern. _It has to be random, or they'll nail us again_, thought the Zeltron.

T3 beeped as Thera returned to the cockpit and stood near the center console.

"Well?" asked the Zeltron expectantly.

"Some of our hyperdrive components are overheated; I placed them in manual standby for now. They must have been hit through our shield anomalies." _Which means their small laser bursts weren't very random at all_. They looked at each other knowing they had just finished the same thought.

Deflector shield anomalies were fluctuations within the shield energy field due to atmospheric anomalies or friction, or energy shifts due to depletion during combat. These anomalies were like filtered holes that allowed attenuated laser blasts through the shield, which were negligible concerns since theoretically no one could reliably predict when a shield anomaly would occur, except perhaps one who was a skilled force-sensitive.

"You were right," she added, "they are only trying to cripple us." She paused, and then placed her hand on his shoulder. "I have an idea," she began. "On my mark, bank hard in either direction, but don't choose which way until my mark."

"That's your plan?" he asked glancing over to see her eyes closed in concentration. "Right," he answered himself, steering into another long spiral.

"Get ready," she said after a few turns into the spiral.

T3 suddenly tweeted wildly.

"Mark!" she shouted.

The Zeltron broke hard to port, hoping to line up Peri's quad cannon with a decent shot. He glanced down at T3's message – "_their shields are down_" – and smiled as he heard Peri fire, and then shout a victory cheer, "I got 'em! I hit their starboard sublight!"

The entire ship almost seemed to lurch with the shift in excitement from everyone. Momentarily, the Zeltron forgot himself, turned in his seat, grabbed Thera by her shoulders, pulled their faces together and kissed her cheek next to her nose. Then he turned back and quickly pulled the ship back out of the dive it began while he was distracted, "Whoops!"

Thera smiled, but for a different reason. She felt some surprise from the other ship when she felt them realize, as she hoped they would, that she had telepathically disabled their shields. The reaction she waited for didn't yield as much anger as she had expected, given the collective dark side emotions she remembered sensing from all of the Sith she had encountered recently. Something felt oddly reassuring, until she heard Gosell's voice, "Setting _my_ bead, now..."

"No! Wait!" shouted Thera, "They are already disabled. Let them go, and let's find somewhere to land; I need to meet with them on the ground."

"Alright," sounded Peri's voice, "but we're _not_ landing anywhere close to them. I'm fresh _out_ of any more chances."

"Oh! You said it," added Gosell.

Thera watched as the Sith vessel disengaged and banked away from them. She surveyed Roon's terrain through the viewport and gradually pieced together familiar landmarks from her memory. "I think we'll find somewhere secure to land due west of that mountain mass," she pointed. "There should be a settlement near the coast, about mid-way between the equator and the northern pole, not far from the darkened hemisphere."

"I'm on it," replied the Zeltron. He banked the ship toward the mountain mass and began humming to himself. _Something finally went right!_ _There may still be some luck left in me today_, he thought.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_Looks like we were lucky_, thought Thera as she finished scanning her datapad. The damage to the hyperdrive wasn't bad, but with certain components overheated, gas and fumes and had built up in the compartment, some of which caught flame when the access hatch was opened spreading some small fires to the machinery that were easily put out. According to atmospheric readouts, the gas fumes were growing close to explosive levels, which would have been exceeded had they been pummeled more by the Sith ship on their way down.

She entered some data and made some highlights to the information before downloading the readout to the ship's mainframe for Peri to review later.

The flight time apparently took a toll on the Zeltron. He found it difficult to lift his limbs, barely able to raise his hands at the wrists.

They landed just outside of the settlement in a semi-forested area not far from a farmstead. With some fancy mind nudges through the Force, Thera was able to talk the owners out of a few homespun mogo cloaks along with a homemade meal for all of them. She and Gosell traded off feeding the Zeltron, which he took open advantage of, "purely for entertainment purposes, of course," he promised. "_Of course_," agreed Gosell as she shoved his next spoonful a little too far into his mouth, which drew a wink out of the Zeltron.

Later, Peri stayed behind with T3 to begin working out what repairs his ship needed from Thera's data, while Thera and Gosell assisted the Zeltron through town to find the clinic she had mentioned earlier. They managed to avoid attention, blending with the locals, wearing their new mogo cloaks along with frequent Force redirections as they passed by different establishments and random crowds, despite their obvious predicament, two individuals assisting a cripple.

They spotted the clinic, but Thera sensed trouble when they were within half a block spotting some ruffians loitering outside the entrance. One was a Sullustan wearing pilot fatigues and a holstered heavy blaster pistol, the other a lean looking orange-skinned Twi'lek wearing a black bodysuit and light limb armaments carrying no visible weapons. Thera redirected their trio into a cantina a few doors down. They found a corner table where they sat trying to be invisible to the world, waiting.

It didn't work for very long. Thera stretched out with the Force and begin feeling out the various patrons, determined to maintain attention away from their corner of the cantina. The patrons at the center tables were mostly Humans. A few Duros were in a booth over in another corner. In one booth, a Sullustan male was enjoying the company of five female Twi'leks. In the next booth was a Human male wearing a dark cloak, dark hair, sitting alone, occasionally gazing around the cantina and then down at a datapad and sipping a drink that looked mostly empty. Other booths were either empty or filled with Humans obviously enjoying a meal. At the bar sat several beings in pilot attire, mostly, a couple of Sullustans, a few Humans, an empty seat, and an anonymous being on the end wearing a black, hooded cloak sitting as still as a statue. _Odd..._ she couldn't help but think to herself. Nothing she could sense felt out of place, so she turned back, matched gazes with Gosell and smiled reassuringly. Gosell settled in to make herself comfortable on the plush bench and adjusted her lekku draped across her chest.

"How much can I give you for your Twi'lek," asked a man's voice. The three of them looked up to see a Human male wearing a fancy button-up blouse and trousers beneath a loose, black cloak that hung from his shoulders to the back of his thighs. A high-tech looking visor was set up into his full, curly, black hair that framed a middle-aged looking face, blue eyes and a calculating smile from his thin lips, and a solid goatee. His open cloak showed a blaster pistol just below his hip, along with two holdout blasters holstered against his ribs.

_How did I not sense this guy coming?_ thought Thera. He was the man with the datapad from the booth across the cantina, now empty, she noticed. His attention was locked in on the Zeltron. Thera shook her head and dropped it into her hands as the man continued to speak. _I am too distracted right now_, she thought.

"I'll pay you," he said, "whatever she's worth to you, plus two thousand credits."

"She's not for sale," responded the Zeltron pointedly.

"_Well_, now, I'm _determined_ to make a deal," he said evenly. "I have a thing for Twi'leks, and I've been a little lonely." Gosell kept a quiet, irritated gaze straight ahead of her. "I'll make it _easy_," he continued, "because I'm that desperate for female hospitality right now. _Name_ your price, and I'll still throw in the extra two thousand credits."

Summoning the Force, Thera turned casually toward the man making a subtle hand gesture, "You're not interested in his Twi'lek," she suggested casually.

The man smiled bigger, "I'm not interested in your Twi'lek," he said resting his hand on Thera's shoulder, and then on her neck, "I'll just take _her_ off your hands instead, then," he added, bending low to look at her face. His hand made his way around to the front of her neck, "I think _you_ and _I_ will do _nicely_..." he said, eyes widening with satisfaction as his hand nudged her chin, and then worked its way down her front...

Thera stood up slowly, seething with anger, and the man seemed surprised as his body lifted slowly into the air with a matched gesture of Thera's arm.

"Don't you _ever_..." she swung her arm to the side wall; the man hit it with a loud grunt...

"_...touch..._" she conducted his body across the cantina into the opposite wall where he let out another loud grunt; patrons quickly grew into a captive audience; a few that he'd flown over took cover...

"_...another..._" she flung him into the far wall over more heads; he didn't grunt that time; she felt the Force build as she unleashed more anger...

"_...female..._" he flew back into the first wall above a neighboring empty booth, the heads of the audience following in stunned unison...

"_...without..._" his skull cracked as he rammed into the ceiling...

"_...her..._" he dropped like a rag doll into the booth's bench; Thera felt the power of the dark side of the Force like she had never felt it before...

"_...permission!_" His head slammed into the table so hard it bounced back up to the head rest, blood dripping from his nose, and then collapsed back onto the table._ He is still alive, but he will not be able to enjoy being touched ever again,_ she wondered to herself. Hearing a blaster charge up, she turned and waved her arm, exerting the Force at the audience she had acquired, some with weapons drawn. "There is nothing else interesting to see! Just ignore us," she suggested aloud.

She kept up her Force influence as long as she could until every patron had visibly forgotten them and returned to their business. She noticed that the hooded cloak at the last bar seat had never stirred. Then whoever it was stood, left a payment on the counter and made a deliberate stride for the entry, paused there as if looking around outside, then turned and made a moment of solid eye contact with Thera – _a Human _– before leaving, vanishing from view.

Thera stretched out with the Force, but couldn't sense anything new. She turned back to the booth with a confused look on her face.

"You _know_," started the Zeltron, "you're _never_ going to find a guy with reactions like that." _It's a _great_ day to be a Zeltron_, he thought, "I'm so lucky for telepathy right now or I'd be right next to that guy," he muttered to Gosell with a wink.

"We need to leave, _now_," said Thera, "and get that clinic visit done with."

Peri looked up from the datapad again, trying to make certain he understood Thera's data she had compiled.

"I'll tell you what, T3," he said, "she was very thorough."

T3 beeped a few random beeps.

"I was always the mechanic, never the engineer..."

T3 made a questioning tone.

"Yep, that's why I brought _you_ along," he smiled at T3, and then turned back to the datapad. "Alright, show me the schematic again, along with gas levels that existed before we set the place on fire." _That was so tedious_, he thought. "We were fortunate, T3, that Thera learned some basic damage control during her Sith apprenticeship, or the whole thing might have been a total loss."

He walked around to the other side of the compartment, wincing as he took in the scorch marks on the hyperdrive components.

"There, T3," he pointed. "The shunt's completely burned out." T3 rolled around him for a better view and made a sad tone.

"We'll need to replace some of the control circuit boards, too, with the spares we have in storage," he said, mostly to himself, "but I'll need to concoct some new insulation coating. We're all out, I think. We'll need to prevent any more overheating, or else our next jump into hyperspace will _certainly_ be disastrous!"

He thought of what supplies he needed. Ship stores were low since he wasn't able to replenish them as he had planned to on Ord Mantell. Everyone had begun living off emergency rations, which he made a point not to bring up in hopes of keeping general tension levels down, at least until it was either absolutely warranted, or it became a virtual non-issue, like now with an opportunity to restock during their stay.

"T3, organize a list of the items we need for repairs, including stores we need to replenish, and also any variation of ingredients for the insulation coating for the circuit boards. I'll go out and find what I can, and then we'll just have to either improvise or make do with what we come up with. I'll be right back," he said leaving to find his comlink and his new mogo cloak. "I'm going to let them know my plan, and then leave you in charge of things."

T3 chimed a cheerful affirmative as he swiveled his dome strolling around in tight circles.

"_Don't_ get a big head, T3," Peri called back.

T3 blatted in response.

Something didn't feel quite right, but Thera couldn't quite figure out what was out of place. She couldn't feel any danger sense in the Force, not nearby anyway, but she couldn't make out anything else in the Force, either. She startled suddenly when Gosell bumped her.

"Are you alright?" asked Gosell. They'd been sitting in the parlor of the clinic while the Zeltron was with the physician. "You've been fidgeting for the last little while, almost non-stop. I'm sure he'll be okay."

"_No_. I'm not worried about him..." she grinned and dropped her face into her hands with a chuckle. "It's something _else_," she said through her fingers. "But I'm not sure what," she added lifting her head and staring off into space.

The Zeltron and the physician had been in the room for almost a half hour with little sound audible from them. The physician, Melco Wyss, was an old associate from Thera's adolescent years. An older, frail gentleman, he'd helped her train physically giving her guidance with her combat form, and helping her move more efficiently.

Their comlink chirped, and Thera answered.

"How bad is the damage?" she asked.

"Very!" replied Peri's voice. "This sort of problem is _not_ typical for space travel that I've ever heard of. It really should never happen."

"Can we repair it?"

"Mostly. I need a few parts that hopefully I can find in town, and I need to pick up miscellaneous supplies anyhow. How's _your_ luck working out?"

"It took _longer_ than I thought to get here; he is still in with the physician."

"Alright. I will make contact again in two hours if I don't hear from you again in that time."

"I understand," she replied and stowed her comlink.

A short time later, Melco appeared from the room with a sad expression and walked over to the two females taking Thera's hand.

"I'm afraid I can't find anything wrong with him," he said with his gentle, throaty voice.

"_Really?_" replied Gosell suspiciously.

"His range of motion is excellent, his muscles are well toned, and his reflexes are as they should be, I just don't get it, myself!"

"Is there anything you can give him?" asked Thera.

"No," he said. "I do have an old gadget, though, that I can use to _stimulate_ his muscles and nerves with small, electric shocks."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Not yet, no."

"I will talk to him. You go set up your gadget."

Thera disappeared into the room, and Melco disappeared into another room, while Gosell settled back down in the parlor.

They finally talked the Zeltron into the electric shocks and rigged him up to Melco's gadget. Thera and Gosell watched with mild amusement as Melco made his limbs jump and twitch randomly, periodically pausing to check his strength by having him lift a weighty tool Melco found in a stock closet. Each time he attempted to lift the tool, he could only barely lift one edge, the other edge still resting on the table. One time he hit his nose with his hand; Thera and Gosell had to turn away to stifle a private chuckle together.

"I _heard_ that," he called out, "and it's _not_ _funny_!"

Thera lowered her voice with a devious grin and took Gosell's arm as they walked away. "It's not funny," she said, shaking her head.

Gosell matched the gesture and the grin, "I _know_."

Something moved in the main entrance, but disappeared when they both looked in that direction.

"_Something's_ not right," whispered Gosell.

"I sensed it. Wait here," Thera said.

She trotted to the entry way and cautiously looked out in the direction she thought the "something" moved. Nothing she could see looked out of the ordinary. Gosell crept up next to her, cautiously peering around her.

"Can you sense anything?"

"I can sense _something_..."

"Is that what you felt earlier?"

"I..."

Something caught Thera's eye. She caught a glimpse of a dark figure a few doors down melting into a shadow. She felt the Force flow through her. She couldn't help feeling like she was some sort of focal point for something that was about to happen.

"Wait here with him," said Thera quietly. "If I am not back in an hour, contact Peri." She handed Gosell the comlink.

"But wait! It might be a..." Gosell trailed off as Thera disappeared with a few strides and a leap. _...Trap. Nevermind_, she thought with a frustrated sigh. She heard the Zeltron shout something in pain and walked back into the parlor.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_Okay, this will not be completely impossible_, thought Thera. Finding herself surrounded by a large, crowded mix of Humans and Duros, she stretched out her feelings in the Force to try to measure how collectively hostile they were. She had followed a nimble Duros into the warehouse, finding it mostly empty, but then something yanked her into a large clearing inside, where she now stood, the center of hostile attention.

"Well, if it isn't Thera Tykos," shouted a Human, "or is it _Darth_ Thera by now?"

Thera didn't know the man, except for his name, Zerrod Goran, but she could recall having to defeat him before in order to be recruited by the Sith. He was force-sensitive, she remembered, creative, but sloppy.

"Do you _remember_ me?" he grinned at her. "I'm _ready_ for you this time," he said, calmly, daring and taunting. "I hear your brother's back in town, too. He's not real happy with you right now."

_Jev is here!_ she thought. _That cannot be right_, she wondered. She felt the Force rush through her as random shouts began, and then she was knocked from her feet to the ground by a flying fifty gallon drum. Realizing the effectiveness of the distraction with his words, she rolled along with the drum, directing it out of the way with the Force.

Thera came to a stop, and someone immediately pulled her hair while a couple of Duros grabbed each of her legs, and two Humans her arms, pulling on them as if intent on pulling her apart, and someone wrested away her lightsabers telekinetically. She struggled to use the pain in her joints the way her brother had taught her, and began to feel strength return to her. She twisted her body violently forcing each hold on her to readjust. Seizing the moment, she grabbed limbs of the Humans with both hands, reaching for pressure points. She managed to find one, weakening the assailant almost instantly. She shrieked and used the Force to hurl the assailant into the Duros pulling her hair. The other three, sensing her growing advantage with her struggling, began to run keeping their three points of her body outstretched, dragging her toward Zerrod, who seemed to be their leader.

The shouting continued as he came into view, and she managed to notice him holding a vibrosword smiling real big at her. She closed her eyes and balled her fist. Her free arm burned with pain from friction against the ground as she used it to elevate her head as she was being dragged. Stretching out her feelings, the energy of everything around her in the Force began to materialize in her mind. She felt Zerrod as he leapt high through the air at her.

Thera opened her eyes, tightened her abdominal muscles, and tensed her body knowing her assailants would hold her tighter while her free arm shot out toward Zerrod, closing above her to strike, and sent a nudge with the Force to shunt his attack safely away. She managed to shift her center of gravity as she moved, the change in the angle of her body surprising the two Duros holding her legs. They looked back to see what changed, only to feel Thera's shins against their jaws in the next instant, forcing them to free her entirely. The two Duros, knocked off balance only slightly, quickly regained fighting stances. Thera spun on her back kicking her legs and swept the feet out from under the Human left holding her other arm captive.

Sensing determination in the crowd of thugs around her, Thera leapt high into the air, arcing over Zerrod, placing him between her and the rest of the combatants. She landed atop a large, metal crate that began moving. She managed to maintain her balance but noticed several smaller objects – boxes, droid parts, and random tools – sailing toward her telekinetically from many different directions, but targeted at varying elevations. _They expect me to jump_, she managed to realize, seeing many of the objects cutting off any useful trajectory.

The first few objects approaching from the frontward direction Thera easily warded off with the Force. But then she felt a barrage of objects pummeling her body, knocking her down from behind and the side before she could focus sufficiently to defend against them. Sharp pains set in quickly, but she knew she had to move soon sensing several individuals around her using telekinesis against her. Zerrod jumped and landed near her on the crate and delivered a kick to her ribs along with a Force shove that rolled her along the slotted surface of the crate, scraping and scratching her, tearing through parts of her bodysuit, until she rolled over the side falling out of sight to the ground.

Thera lay dazed, struggling to avoid fear in spite of pain and broken bones and overwhelming odds. She struggled harder to focus her pain with the dark side to give her strength to give battle to Zerrod whom she felt slowly approaching, laughing with others of his group shouting victoriously. She painfully rolled onto her back in time to see him emerge above the edge of the crate, smiling at her.

He chuckled and said, "I'm sorry, Thera, for taking so long." He poised his arm holding his vibrosword, "I'll end this for you now." He leapt high into the air, his vibrosword held above his head, clearly intending to pounce, when a bright green, humming light severed his arm and promptly disappeared.

Not sure what had happened, but clearly seeing a new advantage the moment after it happened, and a stunned expression on Zerrod's face, Thera managed the strength with the dark side to roll into position from the ground to plant a Force-enhanced kick square into his ribs, audibly cracking bones, and slammed him into the side of the crate, from which he promptly fell lifelessly to the ground. The burst of strength left her, though, as quickly as it came. She crumpled back down, rolled to her side and curled into a ball of pain.

Thera tried desperately to sense the rest of the mob, wondering what she would be able to do next. She felt a sense of shock from the rest of the gang, but it was for something else, not her. She could hear a lightsaber in action, accompanied by shouts and screams, and several things crashing and breaking. She caught glimpse of a Duros flying through the air in a downward direction, passed the crate she'd fallen from, landing in a roll, clearly limp as herself, unable to move much. Then his body lifted into the air and sailed back out of sight from the direction it came into view.

Thera struggled to breathe evenly as she felt the sense of malice slowly dissipate. Quiet gradually set into the warehouse, except for the lightsaber hum. She could feel whomever it was sensing her in the Force, and then approaching her. She felt fear set in as she struggled to discern the intent of her pursuer, but this being was skilled with the Force and able to shield its thoughts. She exerted herself to stretch back out onto her belly, only managing to barely hold her head up by her forearms. She saw a male Human appear, hidden beneath a black, hooded cloak, carrying a green bladed lightsaber. He walked until he stood a few meters from her, extinguished his blade and stood silently looking at her. She could only see his feet and the bottom of his cloak because it hurt too much to look up at his face.

"The Force is with you," he said, thoughtfully, "but you clearly still have much to learn."

She didn't recognize his voice. He stepped over to her and gently helped her roll onto her back, giving her the chance to look at him. She stared with mild amazement into his eyes, remembering the same face from the hooded figure she watched leave the cantina earlier.

"You're a Jedi," she said weakly.

"You're a Sith," he said curtly.

Thera sighed, adding frustration to her pain, "_was_ a Sith," she corrected, dropping her gaze into a blank stare.

"Be still for a moment." He placed a hand on her forehead and held another above her chest.

Thera closed her eyes, and felt strong Force currents course through her body, a mixture, she was able to discern, of light and dark Force energy, but mostly light. She felt strong, physical tingling internally, pain slowly leaving her body, and gradually she was able to breathe more easily, more relaxed. When the only pain left was from contusions and sprains, he removed his hands and sat back cross-legged.

Sensing that he was waiting for her, and feeling more energetic, Thera sat up, almost with a start, and stared at the Jedi suspiciously, and then slid herself cautiously away from him until they were about a meter apart. She sat, legs bent, her arms draped around her knees. She felt mildly self-conscious as she noticed how badly the legs of her bodysuit were shredded. It wouldn't serve her purposes anymore, but that could be handled later. The Jedi sat quietly, patiently matching her stare. She felt a deep sense of calmness about him, more than she had ever felt in any other being.

"You want something from me," she said at last.

"Only a few questions."

"Then will you kill me?"

"Only if I need to."

"What do you want?"

He tilted his head slightly, glancing away momentarily, than back at Thera, "What happened to the Human you know as Lord Matthster."

"_Lord Matthster_," she repeated trying to hide her shock, knowing she was failing at it. _Lord Matthster, my recruiter! How does he know..._

"He and I were companions," he said, smiling, as if reading her thoughts. "We are both Jedi Knights."

_He is telling the truth_, she thought,_ but that is_ not_ right..._

"Your thoughts betray you. _Search_ your feelings, and _listen_ to the Force. You _know_ it to be true," he said cryptically. "I lost contact with him," he went on, "and I need to know why, and the Force has led me here to _you_ for the answer."

Thera sat silent, feeling a sense of remorse and sadness. She had fallen in love with Lord Matthster. She almost felt ashamed, and somewhat confused. _A Jedi! Lord Matthster... and him, this Jedi, he saved my life..._ She began to feel resentment, wondering if his only motive for saving her from the mob was for questioning; _perhaps he _will_ kill me._ She began to feel angry at herself for feeling vulnerable. _Deceived by one, saved by another... what next? Joining forces with them?_

"I feel the conflict within you," he said interrupting her thoughts, concern evident in his voice. "You are very talented with the Force, Thera," _how dare he use my name_, "but the dark side has its limitations, along with a harmonizing _price_ that eventually must be paid."

Thera looked down, filling with anger.

"As a Sith, you harvest strength and power from the dark side with your emotions and pain; the dark side is your ally," he continued. "It serves you well while you suffer under the weight of loss and anger that brew within you right now. Continuing on the path of the dark side will lead you to vengeance for your loss, which will consume you in such forms as greed and lust, leading to greater chaos that will necessitate greater power to overcome the accompanying fear of losing that power. Ultimately you will gain _greater_ power, but it will be _required_ for you to survive, rather than serving you as a viable virtue to simply _live_ for."

She buried her head into her knees, "He was _killed_," she said, changing the subject, not knowing what else to say, afraid that she might follow after this Jedi if she let him continue on with his dogma.

He sounded anxious, "By whom? How?"

Thera sighed and spoke into her legs, and began fighting tears as she replayed the memory for him in restrained emotional confusion, from the compromising of her mission, to the revelation of Matthster being a Jedi, to being branded a traitor, to her brother, Jev, behaving strangely, to being chased by a whole galaxy. She felt anger and fear build as she spoke. She tried to channel her anger into the Force, but she found herself unable to focus.

Suddenly, Thera felt his hand rest gently on her shoulder. _How did he get this close? _She grudgingly allowed his touch to soothe her tension.

"Don't let fear stand in your way," he said, "and _thank_ you, for telling me what happened." He stood next to Thera, reluctance now in his voice, "I'm sorry, but the Force calls me another way, now. You have a different path from me, _and_ you have company near." She looked up in realization, _He's right; I can sense it!_ He disappeared, both physically and in the Force, as mysteriously as he had appeared, but then she heard his voice echo from somewhere in the warehouse, "Do not fight your destiny, _Thera_, listen to the Force!"

She stood up slowly, feeling the bruises take their toll, but much less than earlier, thanks to the Jedi and his Force healing. She noticed her lightsabers sitting neatly, side by side, where the Jedi had been sitting. As she scooped them up, she tried to sense more about who was coming. She recognized the presence as the same from the Sith ship they encountered, but it didn't feel like her brother as she had hoped, especially after hearing that he was around somewhere, here on Roon. Something else felt familiar about the presence. As she turned to face her visitor, the memory became clearer a mere moment before a figure in Sith Robes stepped into view.

"_Lady A'pratti'ka_," she said with a mixture of confusion, apprehension and relief.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Well, well! Look what the nexu dragged in!" remarked A'pratti'ka from across the warehouse as she drew near. Thera stared at the spectacle of Lady A'pratti'ka, Dark Lady of the Sith, her former master, whom she thought was dead – _I remember distinctly feeling her disappear from the Force; I _know_ I remember..._ – walking casually toward her. She appeared relaxed, her dark Sith robe hanging loosely from her shoulders, exposing her black bodysuit and crimson blouse. A Chiss, she had solid blue skin accented by equally solid red, glowing eyes, her hair as black as her bodysuit that hung in neat, shallow curves around the edges of her face.

New questions seemed to overwhelm Thera's mind as she attempted to force herself to gain her composure in spite of her body aches. She reached out in the Force for her danger sense, looking for trends to continue unraveling along with her dealings with the Sith since her sabotaged mission. If she needed to fight again...

Lady A'pratti'ka smiled at Thera, stopping a few meters from her. "Your thoughts betray you, Tykos," she said, her voice firm but soothing.

"You don't need to fear me," she added, meeting Thera's uncertain glower. "The Force is with you! You have learned much since we've been apart, and now I am come to complete your training."

Thera tilted her head and squinted skeptically, maintaining eye contact with A'pratti'ka, unsure where to begin with all of her questions, and unsure if she was fit to be a Sith.

A'pratti'ka mirrored her head tilt, raising an eyebrow. "Has that Jedi shaken you away from your destiny with the Sith?" she asked.

Thera said nothing at first, but closed her eyes and pressed her fists together against her forehead with a deep sigh. _She knows the Jedi was here; I am the last to know _anything, she thought. "I don't know what to say," she said at last. She felt herself scrambling for a course in her mind, seeking for some sort of direction in the Force, but instead she found herself unable to comprehend what she felt. She began to think back to the mission, and then dropped her hands squaring herself before A'pratti'ka.

"What really happened?" Thera asked.

"The mission?"

Thera didn't answer, knowing well A'pratti'ka could see through her.

"We were betrayed from the beginning," began A'pratti'ka. "A few of us suspected a double agent among us beforehand, but they managed to remain anonymous."

"Lord Matthster," interjected Thera quietly.

"Yes. His exposure finally came moments before our _own_ betrayal was apparent. The blow came _swiftly_ from the Mandalorians, _efficient_ in combat and _elusive_ in mind as they can be; we _never_ saw it coming. I managed to kill my assailant. Few others of the team were even able to retaliate, but you and I were the only two to escape with our lives."

Thera looked down, pondering and piecing her own memories together with what she was hearing.

"I hid myself in the Force," A'pratti'ka continued, "and shadowed the Mandalorians, and eventually discovered the extent of their plot. They were allied with our _own_ Sith forces to eliminate us."

Thera looked up at her in shock, as the spoken thought matched with her own unspoken but steadily growing understanding. "_Why_?" she asked, feeling desperate for clarity that had eluded her.

"That remains a mystery, unfortunately, but I have learned that our forces will relent in their pursuit of us, also employing whatever mercenary is brave enough to hunt us down, until they succeed in killing us. Meanwhile, they use us as a tool, an opportunity and collateral benefit for them, to filter out the weak from among them, and thus we have been able to survive until now, the stronger yet to emerge."

Thera gasped softly in realization, "You speak of the leaders, the Dark Lords themselves."

"Indeed."

"Jev?" was all she could say to ask about her brother, afraid of the answer.

"He is here, on Roon. Come with me," She stepped toward her offering her hand. "He's awaited your arrival. _You_ should talk to him for yourself."

Thera hesitated for a moment, wondering how facing her brother again might turn out. She had uncovered many answers here with A'pratti'ka, but more still lay in her mind. She began to feel longing to learn more about obscure portions of her past that lay masked in her mind, a past that Jev had avoided the details in telling to her. She made great effort to avoid emotions that tried to surface when Peri and the others had asked her about her past. Now, the gaps in her memory made her feel incomplete somehow, and unsure about where her true destiny should lie. Perhaps more of the truth would lead her away from the Sith, apart from surviving their culture. She felt the Force begin to fuel her yearning. Boldly, then, she took A'pratti'ka's hand.

"You're _late_," growled Jev, sitting behind an empty desk, as he watched the dark figure approach the entrance to the shack that once housed the administrators for the abandoned Roonstone mine where he had been waiting patiently.

He studied the man noticing his presence heavily shrouded by the Force.

"I had some unfinished business," said the cloaked stranger, "and I'm short of time," he added as he perched against the wall near the entryway.

"Did you bring the information?"

He nodded. "For an added fee, though; I now require immediate transport offworld," he said.

"Fine. Let's have it," he demanded, holding out his hand.

The stranger paused, as if examining Jev's hand, and then lifted his head, his hood lifting with the movement, meeting Jev's eyes with a bold stare.

"Your thoughts betray you," he said evenly. "I will deliver it when I see the ship; not before."

"Well spoken," replied Jev with a grin, pulling back his hand. "You may very well survive in this business," he added offhandedly.

Jev pulled the hood of his own cloak over his head as he stood.

"Time indeed is of the essence," he said. "Meet me at..."

Jev stopped midsentence, pausing in the entryway, a troubled expression on his face. "Wait," he whispered a command. He felt his sister near through the Force, along with another presence. He glanced at the man who held up a finger to his lips, then spread his hand, signaling for Jev to leave him anonymous as he dipped his head allowing his hood to shroud his face.

Jev turned in time to see two figures emerge through the main entrance to the mine, not far from the shack. Both female by their build, the taller of the two no doubt was Thera, the other wore an open cloak, with red, glowing eyes and blue skin, _a Chiss_, he wondered to himself.

"I hope we're not interrupting," called the other woman, smiling as they drew near, "but business with a Jedi Knight in these parts is unwise in times such as these, don't you think?" She accentuated _Jedi_ with her eyebrows and the Force, and stopped a few meters from Jev.

"What?" he asked without hiding his sudden indignation in the Force. His lightsaber whisked into his hand as he called upon the dark side, angry with an insight suddenly clear to him that his associate was a Jedi spy, the heavy shroud he sensed earlier abruptly dissipated. Thera gasped, and withdrew a few paces.

"For aSith Lord," continued the woman, clearly unconcerned, and shrugging her shoulders, still smiling nonchalantly, "you're as _blind_ as an Atrisian _bat_."

Allowing his contempt for realizing he was fool to fuel the dark side flowing through him, he spun with a shout, igniting his red blade, only to meet another red blade swiftly severing his hands before he could bear down on the Jedi. Then he watched helplessly, feeling a sharp pain in his abdomen as a green blur materialized into a lightsaber blade piercing into his rib cage.

"NO!" shouted Thera.

She watched in horror as Jev's body stumbled backward out of the shack, followed by the Jedi launching himself at A'pratti'ka, his green and red blades swinging systematically.

A'pratti'ka sprung to life with her own two red blades, transforming into an entirely different creature than she had been a moment ago. She seemed to redirect the Jedi's onslaught with practiced ease, batting away his steady thrusts and advances. She spun off of a deflection into her own attack aiming her swings high and low, forcing the Jedi to Force-leap back away from her.

"I've been waiting for this, Mykall," said A'pratti'ka serenely. "We finally meet at last."

"I'm sure it's every bit the fantasy you envisioned," he replied matching her smooth tones with his own voice.

Thera watched as their duel continued leading gradually away from the shack, near where her brother lay, his life she could sense slowly fading. She ran to him and settled beside him, fighting the tears driven by her overpowering sadness as she met his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Thera" he struggled to speak.

"The Force is with you," he whispered. "It always has been!"

"That's not important right now, Jev," she said.

"It _is_ important," he choked. "Don't fight your feelings; _use_ them for strength."

She hugged her brother and gave up fighting her tears as he managed to hug her back with his stubby arms.

"I need to know, Jev..."

"Yes! That's why you've come for me; you still don't remember," he whispered, lying back down and fixing her with a solemn stare.

"Our father," he began, "was in league with a Sith Lord who ran a crime ring based on Ryloth." He coughed. "They murdered our mother and demanded his allegiance to operate for them here on Roon using his Sith alchemy. When you were twelve, they came for some sort of remuneration. That night, I awoke to your screaming in the worst horror I had ever imagined. I ran to your room to find our father performing his Sith alchemy on you, transforming your body from its tall and skinny family traits to something more endowed, while the others stood by and watched." He coughed again. "I _felt_ your intense pain, saw your skin turned red from being unnaturally stretched, and I grew _angry_, making me strong in the dark side of the Force." His breathing sounded shallower.

"That's why I killed them, Thera! All of them!" he said, his whisper beginning to fade. "You were my sister, and the Force was with you; I couldn't let anything bad happen to you..."

He stopped breathing for instant, then somehow managed to resume with quick, struggled breaths.

"Don't leave me, Jev! I love you!"

"Go... use your feelings... fulfill your destiny... with the Force... avenge me... avenge yourself..."

She shook her head, crying and whispering, "No!" over and over as he spoke. His life ebbed from his body, his presence faded from the Force; Jev was gone.

Thera closed her eyes, and sat back, allowing her emotions to sluice through her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stood beside her brother's body and forced herself to clear her mind. The currents of the Force swelled through her limbs as, slowly, she stretched out her awareness.

The sounds of the lightsaber duel fading back into her conscious mind, Thera opened her eyes and withdrew her lightsabers. They were gone from view, but she could sense where they were, just on the other side of a giant housing for a long, horizontally-mounted turbine. She focused her energy, and then leapt with the Force high above the turbine, somersaulting in mid-air, and then ignited her red and magenta lightsabers as she caught sight of the Jedi, intent to pounce on him with all of her might.

The Jedi broke away from A'pratti'ka and leapt away from where Thera landed in the next moment. Her blades plunged into the ground where he had been standing. A'pratti'ka jumped over Thera landing smoothly into another attack, driving the Jedi backward toward a large hole in the ground from which protruded a large drill bit, leaning against the opposite side. Sensing his predicament, he managed a Force-push, sending A'pratti'ka into the air. She recovered immediately while in mid-air and somersaulted down beside Thera.

"You _won't_ defeat us, Mykall," she said.

"_Nobody_ is without a shatter point," he bantered back. Their playful language from earlier had descended to harsh, mutual resentment.

The Jedi charged the two of them, weaving and spinning, pressing his attack to set the two women off balance. Thera watched patiently for his moment of weakness that never seemed to come as she fought to maintain a counterattack with A'pratti'ka. He fought with precision and discipline, more than she had ever observed in an opponent, and he exuded an extreme amount of confidence and ability with the Force, along with an unnatural amount of endurance. All she could do was keep him busy, trying to wear him down.

Abruptly, he managed to kick A'pratti'ka off balance, and then lift Thera into the air with the Force and sling her into the nearest wall. A'pratti'ka rolled on the ground and back to her feet, and held her sabers defensively in front of her.

"I _know_ where your shatter point lies, now," he said cryptically.

He turned to see Thera getting up from the ground. "It's _her_!" he shouted, leaping at Thera, hurling his red saber at her in mid-jump and raising the green blade to strike at her. Time seemed to slow down for Thera as she felt the Force and swung her arm, catching his lightsaber safely by the hilt. As the Jedi flew closer to her, she knew she wouldn't have time to deflect his attack, having thrown all of her momentum into catching his red blade.

A black spot burned its way through his chest, his expression turned immediately to dismay, his green blade tumbling from his grip, moments before time resumed its normal pace for Thera, as his body crashed into hers, knocking them to the ground in a heap. She rolled his body away where he lay still and lifeless, the dark spot on his chest smoldering with heat, framing a deep burn through his clothing and flesh. She gazed in the direction he had jumped from and noticed a profile in the distance beyond the drill, that of a familiar figure with pink skin that shone in the sunlight in stark contrast to a long, black coat, lowering a modified blaster to his side.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter15**

_Wow!_ Thera stood up, feeling a little stunned, and looked over at A'pratti'ka, standing in a ready stance a few meters away holding her lightsabers, still lit and lowered to her sides, her head tilted slightly toward Thera. Meeting her gaze with her glowing red eyes, A'pratti'ka took a deep breath, and stood motionless, as if waiting to see what Thera would do next. In the distance, Thera noticed the Zeltron disappear from his vantage point. She let out her own breath she realized she was holding, turned from the scene and began at a brisk pace back toward her brother's body.

"Thera," called A'pratti'ka, "wait!" She extinguished her blades and set off in a jog to catch up her.

Thera shook her head silently and felt herself begin to weep as she began quickening her pace. The revelation from the Jedi seemed to shed a new light on the level of importance everyone seemed to be placing on her. The Force was with her; she could feel it through her body. She understood it now, differently than before. She was not simply a target to be executed by the Sith; she was a threat to be eliminated. That was her destiny. She shook her head at the realization, closing her eyes as the notion washed over her.

A'pratti'ka caught up to her. "Thera,..." She reached for her arm.

"Don't touch me!" she scolded pulling away, maintaining her stride.

"Thera, what Mykall said..."

"What that Jedi said was the truth!" Thera said with a snap, stopping suddenly and turning with a glare to face A'pratti'ka.

"Your thoughts betray you, Lady A'pratti'ka! _Your_ purpose depends upon _my_ survival, for the moment at least. Your manner is warm and tender, but you have your own agenda for me, like everyone else!"

A'pratti'ka inhaled deeply, but held her response. Thera continued, "All I ever wanted was to become a Sith, duly engaged in bringing order to the galaxy, like my brother and my father before me. The Force has been strong in my family, and I have only just begun to truly realize how important that is, to everything, and apparently to _everyone_. Becoming a Sith Lord was what I _dreamed_ of in my youth, and since the beginning of this Sith life, I have experienced _anything_ but order. This has _not_ been what I ever expected. As far as I am concerned, the Jedi may be abysmally short-sighted, but the Sith are ruthless and chaotic, and they no longer have what I am looking for!

A'pratti'ka started to speak, but Thera held up her hands. "Excuse me, now, while I go and mourn for my family!" Thera turned again and abruptly resumed her former stride. A'pratti'ka stood silent for a moment, watching her leave, and then called to her. "I'll be waiting here for you, Thera, when you return. Your destiny _awaits_ you!"

Thera could feel A'pratti'ka's smile on her back, resenting every bit of it as she rounded the last corner of the giant turbine she had vaulted over earlier. Jev's body was lying peacefully where she had left it. She paused a few meters from it, gazing at his long and lanky muscular form, wrapped loosely in his cloak. She knelt down and pulled his hood over his head and carefully wrapped his cloak tightly around his body. Then she lifted him in her arms and began carrying him toward the mining compound's entryway.

As she made her way from the compound, she decided to take the body back to Melco Wyss. Being a physician, he would possibly have means to help her lay her brother to rest properly.

The subdivision of the city nearest the mine seemed as dead, empty, and run down as the mine itself, _as dead as Jev_, thought Thera. Not too far away from the mine, where the sultry life of Roonians really began to flesh out the cityscape, she began feeling for the Force, and allowing the random sentiments of different random beings wash over her.

A few groups of adolescents were focused on each other with what seemed like visceral intents. A droid mechanic had set up a makeshift shop at a corner a block further, and seemed to be seeking patrons to take advantage of. A gloomy looking being, feeling solitary, a Duros from the looks of him, lay slumped against an abandoned shack a little ways down from where she was. A few homes in the area had a wide range of emotions, from lovers feeling safe and secluded and anxious, to a mother frustrated with her child. She finally allowed herself to hone back in on her companions and could sense the Zeltron waiting for her around the last corner coming up. His mind seemed fairly perplexed in the Force. Lady Gosell was with him. Her form appeared around the corner, looking for Thera. When she caught sight of her, she hurried toward her to meet her.

"What happened?" she asked, falling into step beside her. Thera could feel her genuine concern in the Force, and sought to bask in the warmth of it.

"He is my brother," she answered reverently. Hoping to avoid any awkward moments or conversations, she decided to quickly redirect the conversation.

"I'm so sorry!" Gosell responded.

"Let us not discuss it for now," she said putting the Force behind her words. "How is the Zeltron?"

"The Zeltron? He... made a full... recovery," she said hesitantly and sounding somewhat suspicious, a confused look fixating onto her face.

"Well, not a moment too soon, either; he saved my life," Thera replied, letting a pleasant grin creep into her face. _Everybody has their secrets_, she thought as she rounded the last corner. She avoided eye contact with him heading straight for the clinic. Melco met her at the entrance, a disturbed look on his face at the sight of the body in her arms.

"Who do you have there?" he asked as she approached.

"It's Jev, Melco."

"Oh, I... I'm sorry, Thera." He turned to look briefly inside his clinic, and then turned back. "Why don't you bring him inside; I have somewhere you can put him. Then you can tell me all about it."

Sensing him in the Force, like she was unable to do before, Melco Wyss _felt_ like the kind-hearted man she remembered him for in her youth. He had helped her with rehabilitation for most of her injuries she accrued while training to join the Sith. Showing up at his clinic this time almost felt like coming home.

"Thera," spoke Gosell from behind. "We'll wait for you out here," she said nodding a cue at the Zeltron as he turned his head, clearly bothered about something. "And we haven't heard from Peri yet," she added.

"Thank you," Thera replied.

Melco had a crematory in the back of his clinic that he was able to convert into a makeshift funeral pyre. He and Thera stood side by side in silence with solemn, blank stares, watching as the flames engulfed and slowly devoured Jev's body.

Finally, Thera looked at Melco. He held his gaze on the blaze and sighed.

"Jev told me how my father died," she said.

Melco nodded. "Your father was a talented man," he said.

She fixed her stare on his eyes. "He was using me."

"He was stretched between his affiliations."

"He was a Sith. He had other affiliations?"

"_Naturally_. He was a _Sith_," he replied, turning to meet her gaze. "The Sith seek for power, whether through abilities with the Force or through both open and underground social influences. Your father was an alchemist, and he had several ties to organizations here on Roon, including the ruffian group through which the Sith recruited you and Jev, as well as with various other Sith Lords who either also reside here or frequent here in their travels."

"Jev spoke of a Sith Lord and a crime ring, something about Ryloth."

Melco smiled and looked back at the burning pyre. "Ah, yes! Your father was involved with one Sith Lord, Darth Passuss. Passuss had acquired a vast amount of resources through various networks. He became a patron for your father's abilities and aided him on several occasions to become the Sith that he was."

He glanced back Thera, "I assume Jev did not omit your mother's fate." She nodded affirmatively and they both looked at the blaze. "He came to me the night before she was killed. His mind was so _perplexed_. All I could do was let him talk. We discussed a few concerns he had until he found some resolution for himself. He was not expecting his wife's murder. I imagine he was driven mad after that, leading to the events that followed, ending in his death at Jev's hands."

He looked at Thera with concern, "What will you do now?"

Her face grimaced. "My brother was killed by a Jedi. My father was killed because of a Sith Lord. The Sith are trying to kill me. What is there to do? How much longer must I go on surviving?"

"Surviving is no way to live."

"What choice do I have? What; do I fight back and kill the Sith?"

She was being facetious, but he gave her a serious nod of acknowledgement. "I'm no Force-user," he began, "but I have witnessed enough to respect its power. What do you feel through the Force?"

Thera sighed and pondered for a moment what he was asking, and tried to piece together what all of her impressions in the Force could be directing her toward.

"I am meant to live," she said at last, "in spite of the Sith."

"Will you continue to run, then?"

"No. I must _resist_."

"These Sith Lords are very powerful and very affluent in the ways of the Force. You're still a novice, albeit a successful one thus far. Will you join the Jedi?"

"No!"

He smiled at her, "Then what other avenue have you to resist with?"

An epiphany began in her mind. "I will learn the ways of the Force, learn to control it, and I know how I will do it!" She stood and thanked Melco and began making her way to leave.

"Wait! I have something for you, something cosmetic," he added.

He looked through a closet and pulled out a yellow pair of lab coveralls.

"There's a room there," he pointed. "These are rugged, durable, and able to adjust to fit all sorts of shapes and sizes, and they're in much better shape than your poor bodysuit."

She tried on the coveralls and was able to adjust it to fit well enough for the freedom of body movement she knew she was accustomed to. She emerged from the room and twirled once to show him the fit.

"That will do," he said approvingly.

"Thank you," she replied, and head again for the entry.

"You should c0me with me, Melco. I feel like you should be there to help me," she said, pausing at the entry way, listening as a few of the adolescents outside made their way down the street, playing with crude looking droids that beeped and twisted at odd angles, probably from the droid mechanic down the street, having scored against ignorance.

Melco smiled again, "No, thank you. My place is here at my clinic."

She smiled back a sort of sad smile.

"Go on," he said.

"Thanks, Melco!"

She turned to face Gosell and the Zeltron who stood across the way, keeping a suspicious eye on the mix of young beings in the street. Some were Sullustans and a few Duros and a Twi'lek, all playing with droids that looked like they were put together with random parts from a junk heap. One Duros was playing with a mouse droid trying to place obstacles in its path for it to change direction and go around.

Thera waded through the youth and the droids toward her companions. Something didn't feel right.

"We need to go," she said curtly.

"We need to talk," said the Zeltron.

"Then you will need to keep up," she replied setting off back for the mine. The Zeltron and Gosell looked at each other a little confused and aggravated, and then hurried to keep up with her. As they rounded the first corner, a shock wave knocked them off balance and to the ground as a large explosion happened behind them. Thera lifted her head and looked back to see smoke and roiling flames pouring from Melco's clinic, and many of the adolescents screaming in flames, if they weren't lying dead already from the blast. Melco was gone. She could feel his beacon in the Force missing from where it was.

Thera jumped up, "C'mon!" She hurried. The two jumped up after her and followed behind.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_There's been a disturbance in the Force_, thought A'pratti'ka as she sat in deep meditation with her eyes closed, hidden in the dark shadow of a mine trolley turned on its side. She heard a noise that sounded like an explosion or thunder in the distance, which slightly rumbled the ground for a few moments before dying away. Her eyes popped open with a sudden new revelation, _She's turned back!_ She smiled, and stood to begin making preparations for the arrival of her apprentice.

"Your friend, Melco," said the Zeltron, "couldn't quite figure it out. It all seemed to happen as soon as you left the clinic."

They had been at a near jog and not spoken to each other since the explosion until the old Roonstone mine finally came back into view and they slowed to a more relaxed pace, though Thera kept a sense of urgency in her step. The Zeltron had begun sharing the details of his recovery from his strength loss to Thera.

"About _that_," replied Thera, sparing a momentary guilty glance, "it was all _my_ fault. I... saw an opportunity to practice my use of the Force... anonymously,... so after you hit that wall, I focused on your muscular system and restricted your movements,... pretty much... the whole time."

The Zeltron stopped, looking insulted. "You nerf!" he said sharply. "You made me go through... through electric shocks?"

Gosell stifled a snicker and a smirk, but still kept up with Thera.

"Sorry," said Thera without slowing her pace. "You were a great specimen," she added looking back a moment before continuing on.

The Zeltron sighed, disgusted and annoyed. "I'm gonna go find Peri," he said, stomping off in the opposite direction.

Thera stopped near the mine's entrance turning to Gosell and paused, thinking.

"Do you think he'll ever forgive you?" posed Gosell.

Thera shook her head. "Not really, with changes that are about to happen," replied Thera.

" 'Changes'. Is this another dangerous Force premonition?"

"Possibly. You should probably go with him."

Gosell grimaced. "I have a bad feeling about this! You may need me around. Besides, I've had about enough of his charm."

"Okay, but... you may not survive what may ensue here."

"Thera, I have nothing left. My early life was cut short. My life afterward was torture until I fought my way to where I was at Keldabe. It all changed again when you and Peri ran into me. _Since_ then ..." she paused, gestured with her eyebrows and cocked her head.

Thera made no reply, but still looked uneasy.

"Look," Gosell went on, "I'll stay back at a safe distance, until you signal all clear."

Thera sighed and nodded, "Alright. But I may not be able to protect you from whatever happens."

"It's my risk; I'll take the chance," said Gosell breathing out a determined sigh of resolution.

Gosell followed Thera into the mining site and located shelter in a dark shadow beneath an old grinding mill. Thera continued on, weaving her way through the mine's maze toward the shack, near where her brother had died.

She paused at the shack's entryway and peered into the darker shadows further back. Seeing no signs of life, she turned to face the empty clearing and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and felt for the currents in the Force. She reached back with her mind the way she came and found Gosell, brimmed with caution, curiosity, and calculation. She stretched out further around the mining compound, identifying pieces of broken down machinery. She felt the presence of Lady A'pratti'ka moments before she heard her voice.

"The Force is with you, young Tykos." Thera opened her eyes and saw the fully cloaked figure of the Chiss woman, partially obscured by shadows. "You have come to face your destiny at last," she continued.

"I have come to learn the ways of the Sith," Thera agreed, "to serve in bringing order to the galaxy."

A'pratti'ka lowered her hood and slowly stepped out of the shadows toward Thera with a light chuckle. "Your thoughts betray you, Thera. You seek to protect your own life by avenging your family and _breaking_ your pursuers." Her hands shot forward and short burst of lightning leapt from her fingertips, catching Thera's abdomen and knocking her back into the entryway of the shack. "But your journey has barely begun." She blasted her again, longer this time, watching her writhe and shout, and finally cry in pain before she stopped. "I sense great _fear_ in you, Tykos. Your desire to become a Sith lacks the proper focus! _Get up!_"

Thera felt her muscles tighten and twitch in pain. She knew she was crying and tried to stifle her emotions.

"_Don't_ fight them; _use_ them!" shouted A'pratti'ka, unleashing another barrage of lightning. Thera fought to resist, but could only flail in pain as the lightning energy danced over and charged through her body. _Use the pain!_ She heard her brother's voice in her mind. _Fight back!_ Slowly she compelled her will away from resisting the pain, and forced herself to embrace it instead. As her body twitched in the onslaught of A'pratti'ka's lightning, she felt the Force build violently within her, seeking an outlet that she was all too familiar with from recent duels.

"Don't _loose_ the power; _control_ it!" shouted A'pratti'ka as she intensified the lightning. Thera growled as she focused on extending one of her arms into the lightning stream. Suddenly, she could sense the chaos of the dark side of the Force gradually beginning to adhere to her will for control. Her outstretched hand began to burn with greater pain and glowed with a bright bluish hue as the lightning gradually coalesced toward her fingertips. She felt the dark side blaze through her body as she climbed to her knees, still absorbing the lightning energy. The energy quickly began to feel uncontrollable, flowing through her body. She grimaced as she raised her other hand from where she was using it for balance, and lightning began to discharge from her fingertips, dancing across the floor randomly, charring and burning wherever it landed.

A'pratti'ka stopped the lightning and all of the lightning stopped, wisps of smoke left billowing up from Thera's form, along with charred debris smoldering or still burning out around her.

"_Interesting_," said A'pratti'ka.

Thera lifted her head and focused weary eyes on her master with a deep sigh through her nostrils, feelings of resentment flooding into her mind.

"_Good_," said A'pratti'ka, slowly stepping laterally across Thera's view. "Your _feelings_ make you _stronger_. You must embrace the dark side of the Force. Now, you must learn situational awareness _within_ the Force, whereas before you used the Force for situational awareness with normal sentient interactions." Thera stood and began mirroring A'pratti'ka's easy pace maintaining the circular path A'pratti'ka had begun as she continued to speak. "You must surpass your ability to fight several non-Force-sensitives, or a single Force-sensitive being, as we shall face multiple Force users at any given time on our journey."

A'pratti'ka flicked her wrist and, instantly, all of the charred debris behind Thera attacked her, coating her form as she flinched. Thera stood and began to sense other objects from the yard begin to move toward her at reckless speeds. She began to channel the Force to ward off as many objects as she could. A few she couldn't reach out to quick enough still hit her. After the first few hits, and with more objects targeting her, she began using the pain to fuel her awareness in the Force.

"Good!" murmured A'pratti'ka, as she continued her onslaught.

Gosell jumped with a start upon hearing the noise, still huddled in her hiding place in the shadows of the huge mill. She had watched Thera disappear deep into the mining facility not long ago. Eventually she heard distant sounds of crashing objects. Barely able to imagine what was happening, she considered, and even picked out, a new hiding spot, one that might offer a better view of what was going on. She thought better of it as an uneasy feeling began to set within her, worse than she had ever felt. She rarely startled, and not very easily at that, but the noise that did so now brought an instant flash of fear that made her freeze.

The noise sounded like a grumble or low growl of a Lylek, the fierce predators that had killed her family on Ryloth. As she froze, she languished inwardly as the long suppressed memory of her family members' last dying cries invaded her thoughts. She had only survived because she had disobeyed her mother's wishes and climbed on top of a large stone structure near her home. They came swiftly into their homestead and seemed rather efficient at feeding themselves. She remembered the sounds of the Lyleks as they scavenged for more food for what she remembered felt like forever after the last cry of her mother had ended, while she lay hiding, paralyzed in terror, crying and hoping they wouldn't find her.

As the last part of the memory began to fade from her mind, Gosell realized she was holding her breath and exhaled. She began to breathe evenly to clear her mind and calm her nerves, and tried to determine if it had been her imagination. She made a small gasp when she heard the noise a second time, more unmistakable than the first noise, and tried to scan for where the noise was coming from. At the edge of the mill's shadow, she spotted a small metallic object lying on the ground. It looked familiar, sort of like one of Thera's lightsaber hilts. She stared at it, wondering how it got there, _Did Thera drop it?_

The noise didn't startle her when she heard it the third time, though it still made her stomach turn. She still couldn't place the origin, but she began to feel a strong desire to come out of hiding momentarily, just long enough to make a grab for the lightsaber, lying barely two meters out of her reach. The idea felt insane, but she willed the insanity to subside remembering how effective the weapon was in Thera's hands. Although she had no experience, herself, with the weapon, at least she would have a better chance of defending herself against the Lylek. _Maybe there's not just one of them..._

She darted from her hiding place, and stumbled as she bent to scoop up the lightsaber. Trying to hurry, she maneuvered herself through her stumbling, aiming to make sure she could grab the lightsaber. She finally grabbed it, and as she moved to spring back into hiding, she heard an angry cry of a Lylek from behind her. She quickly found and fumbled with the ignition switch to produce the snap-hiss and the bright red blade, and immediately spun around...

Lady A'pratti'ka began working with the Force more intensely as she managed two different scenes. She managed to attack Thera with enough telekinesis to warrant her opting to use her lightsaber to help ward off the random attacks. As she felt Thera's intonation with the Force sharpen, she began to concoct mind manipulations with Sith sorcery, hoping to catch her with deceptions. Meanwhile, after much effort, she finally found the vulnerability for the Twi'lek girl and began plotting to intersect the two within each other's deceptions. If she worked things just right, they would fight each other without realizing it. The Twi'lek would lose, probably die, of course, but she sensed susceptibility in Thera for the Twi'lek, as well as for her other companions, that would be made to serve as an advantage for their more formidable opponents.

The Twi'lek soon became more confident and vengeful as A'pratti'ka drew her closer to Thera, who was beginning to waver some as she struggled to maintain her focus in the Force amid A'pratti'ka's deceptive Sith sorcery. She would need to overwhelm Thera at the right moment in order to pull off their encounter effectively. Finally Thera gave up the moment A'pratti'ka needed. The Twi'lek charged and the two were fighting ferociously, both thinking they were engaged against truer enemies. Thera quickly found the upper hand. A'pratti'ka took a slow deep breath as she felt Thera fight to regain her focus, as the Twi'lek was disarmed, and the killing blow was lined up, and Thera stopped her magenta blade instantly centimeters from the Twi'lek's neck.

The two combatants stood frozen, staring at each other, A'pratti'ka's shroud of Sith sorcery suddenly gone, Gosell's eyes wide with amazement, Thera fraught with stoic concentration, her blade humming steady where she stopped it next to Gosell's neck. She steadily drew back her blade, extinguished it, and swiftly stowed it out of sight, and stood there maintaining her stare.

"What are you... what just _happened_ to you?" wondered A'pratti'ka.

"Now is not her time to die," replied Thera evenly.

Gosell stood speechless, holding her breath, only barely able to blink, shock still apparent in her expression.

"No! You must _destroy_ her! You care too much for her and _especially_ your other companions; our enemies will _exploit_ that; we can't afford to give them any _advantage_!"

Thera didn't respond, and didn't move.

"Don't make me destroy you!" warned A'pratti'ka, punctuating each word.

"We cannot afford to lose her," replied Thera, "or my other companions, and you cannot afford to lose _me_."

"You would be an acceptable loss!" A'pratti'ka said sharply.

"Then _take_ it! Take your loss _now_!" bellowed Thera, maintaining her stance.

A'pratti'ka growled to herself, willing to strike her down, but recognized she was more willing to exact her revenge. She finally let out a sigh. "The Force is with you, young Tykos, but you still don't know the _full_ power of the dark side of the Force!"

Thera sighed and broke her gaze with Gosell, turning to renew her gaze upon A'pratti'ka. She closed her eyes and inclined her head slightly. "Yes, my master," she conceded softly.

Gosell finally felt a sense of relief, and fainted.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_She is out of her mind!_ thought Peri, after a few moments of pondering Thera's story.

Earlier Peri had collected and deposited supplies for his ship, and had found an abandoned landspeeder salvage yard on the edge of the settlement near the mogo farm where his ship was parked and contacted the others to meet up there to discuss their plans. They all eventually accumulated there, and Thera had relayed the information she'd learned about Ryloth, along with her intentions to begin a counter-engagement to avenge her family and stop running away.

Peri was beginning to worry that his original intentions might not yield much for Corellia's security. He had already lived through more adventure than he had ever cared for. His mission was supposed to be solitary and mind-numbing, mostly to avoid attention, something to immerse himself into until he could return home with intelligence that would help safeguard his people from the threat of the Sith.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," he began, "but I have my own path. I gave you transport, and you paid your debt, as we agreed. At this point we should go our separate ways. I'm not equipped to go up against a Sith Lords."

"Yet you follow one," interjected A'pratti'ka. "A _detective_ with the sole purpose of finding a _weakness_ within the Sith with which to defend your homeworld against them. You will need it when _that_ day comes, very _soon_ in fact."

Peri's expression changed, but he said nothing in response.

The Zeltron cringed, himself, feeling Peri's sense of embarrassment that he admirably managed to hold in, only betraying his sense of dismay for being so openly exposed, with a touch of fury for the threat just revealed against his homeworld. This Chiss woman seemed very keen at discerning the deep intents of any random being_ ...which could be an advantage_, thought the Zeltron, but he had a few secrets of his own. He suddenly felt uneasy as the Chiss woman turned to fix her cold, red-eyed stare in his direction. He could feel her presence bore into him. _This isn't going to be good_, he thought.

"You," she continued, "have so many strings you're tied to that it's a wonder you're still alive, especially after selling out your partner here," she nodded toward Peri, "to the band of space pirates near Ord Mantell."

_How did she know?_ "Now _wait_ just a minute!" bellowed the Zeltron. "I'm not directly affiliated with anyone, least of all pirates! I'm a smuggler, and I may have mishandled some information during some business, but I don't double-cross anyone either! There's a certain amount of honor I maintain as a smuggler..."

"_You_ told them I was coming," scolded Peri. "What? Was the pay to good to pass up?"

The Zeltron scowled back at him. _It wasn't that simple_, he thought with a sigh that visibly reflected as much. "That was the 'windy weather' I mentioned," he said soberly. Peri tossed up his hands, and everyone shifted their weight to manage the growing tension within the group as the Zeltron sighed again before explaining himself.

"I had just made a delivery to this particular pirate band, yes. As I normally do following a delivery, I checked my communications array for my next shipment opportunity. Even with the frailty of reliable subspace news, word was travelling fast about a fugitive with an unusually high bounty hosted by the Sith," he said very subdued.

"When I stumbled across Peri's connection to it all, I noticed that several organizations I make shipments for had already begun pursuit of the bounty. Your call was traced to me almost as soon as I got it by the same band of pirates I had just finished business with, and I hadn't even had a chance to make tracks. They had connections that had already been tracking you, Peri, and they seized my ship; they didn't leave me any alternative."

Peri dropped his forehead into his hand. The Zeltron felt the frustration within him. "I'm sorry," he said, and turned to face away from the group. As he felt a sense of shame seep into his mind, he felt his body beginning to secrete pheromones as his mind sought solace. He tried hard to suppress it to avoid unwanted pity from the others.

"So where does all of this leave us now? I don't understand what our next step will be," said Gosell.

"I don't know," replied Thera. "The Force is with us, all of us, if we move together, if a confrontation is to be successful."

"And, as before, you have no plan," said Peri.

"I _know_ we must go to Ryloth to find the Sith Lord who employed my father. I feel no sense that this Sith Lord is the mastermind behind the misfortune we have survived, but the Force flows toward this course of action."

"..._And_, as I said before, I cannot support this sort of mission," said Peri. "I am not in a position to engage in this sort of altercation. My ship's been badly damaged, and as your old 'friend' here so intensely pointed out, I'm more of a _spy_, not a warrior."

Thera folded her arms with a calculating expression on her face.

"It would seem," said Gosell, "that our friendly alliance here is losing ground. Thera, your mission is an immense undertaking. Not to mention, we clearly have confidence issues among us, as we all have conflicting loyalties." She glanced over at the Zeltron, who turned back away from the group to avoid her glance.

They all sat silent, as if to accept Gosell's pronouncement, all of their gazes slowly melting downward toward the ground in front of them. Peri finally stood as if to address everyone, "Since we're done, then, it's been nice working with everyone, very educational, but I'm going to fetch a few more supplies on my list, and then leave. You all have one hour to remove your belongings from my ship."

No one answered him, so he turned and left the group to themselves. Moments later, Thera and Gosell arose and left toward Peri's ship.

The remaining two sat silently for a long moment without stirring. The Zeltron, still perplexed over his secret's disclosure, glanced over at A'pratti'ka who sensed his gaze, but only smiled without looking up.

"How _did_ you know?" he asked.

She lifted her head to respond, "I was with Thera on her fateful mission that went afoul," she began, keeping her gaze on the ground. "I was assigned as the lead analyst for the undercover campaign we were preparing to launch. Prior to the mission, I had gathered information about the crime organization known as _The Ring_, which Gosell was working for, and, as matter of principle, I had also acquired intelligence on local gang and pirate activity, and all of their affiliates."

"But I don't allow my name to be connected to anything," said the Zeltron, "or anyone. The best anyone could use to trace me was my ship, and I didn't even have a genuine transponder, _and_ I do my own modifications on _everything_ to avoid any form of documentation trails."

"And masterfully done," A'pratti'ka added, finally looking up at him with her solid red eyes. "At first, I managed to gather information on you as an anonymous player long before the mission started. After our betrayal, I shadowed the key players that surfaced, and followed up with my earlier intelligence data to determine the root controlling influences behind everything. This included your own duplicity that you confessed to. I was the one responsible for blowing up your ship.

"You what?" he said, pulling out his modified blaster instinctively.

"I had my suspicions of who '_mister anonymous'_ was, so I decided to force your hand to learn what loyalties would drive you."

"That was my _ship_!" he pointed his gun at her and slowly began to pace a circle around her.

"That also managed all of you into one basket," she added without flinching.

"My life's _work_, including my _favorite swoop_ was in there," he said angrily, flicking a switch near his thumb that charged up something while he pondered taking deliberate aim at her face.

"Take care, Zeltron, how you proceed."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No _need_ to."

Instantly, A'pratti'ka's spread hand shot up, just in time to harmlessly intercept the blast from the Zeltron with a shower of sparks. Her lightsaber hilt flew to her hand and snap-hissed to life as he rapidly fired three more shots, all of which A'pratti'ka picked off with her red blade, the last of which she managed to direct back at his blaster. To her surprise, the weapon absorbed the blast, as if a deflector screen surrounded the weapon and his hand. She sensed his gun hand flinch as it absorbed the blast, which didn't afford her the advantage she was looking for, but it would have to do. Instantly she thrust her empty hand forward, telekinetically knocking the blaster from his hand. The Zeltron charged her, and immediately seized her hand holding her weapon, pinning her arm across her torso. She spun, swinging her free arm toward his gut. He caught her other arm before she could make contact, grabbed her other hand and held both of them crossed above her head with both of his own.

"_Impressive_ use of the _Force_," he sneered.

"I use it as needed," she retorted coolly.

"And what if you're overpowered?"

"You call _this_ overpowering? I'm not even _intimidated_!"

"This is going to get messy, isn't it?"

"I call it like I see..."

He leaned forward and kissed her lips. A'pratti'ka melted her lips into his kiss and extinguished her lightsaber as he released her wrists. She wrapped her wrists around his head as his arms pulled her body closer to his.

Thera felt something new in the Force. She noticed she was growing more attuned to the different presences of individuals in the Force, those that were sentient, non-sentient, content, malcontent, or... _malevolent... something is not right..._. As she and Gosell came into view of Peri's ship, she felt three distinct presences, each on high alert, and she knew they were near his ship. Thera stopped and knelt into the tall grass field; Gosell matched her movements.

"What is it?" asked Gosell.

Thera stood silent, trying to feel what she could. She could sense that something was changing. The three beings she felt were not an immediate danger, but other currents in the Force seemed to be shifting.

Gosell wanted to ask more questions. Thera didn't seem troubled, so instead she opted to be patient for the answer to her first question.

"Something has changed," said Thera at last.

Gosell gasped softly as she heard the sound of a swoop engine power up and then die away in the distance from near Peri's ship. She knew something was amiss; just not sure what exactly. She had learned to trust Thera's instinct with the Force, as it had kept her alive and unharmed since their first untoward meeting. While Thera stood motionless, visibly trying to sense things, she showed no alarm, so Gosell would not let her imagination unsettle her.

"C'mon; they are clear of the ship," Thera said at last as she resumed her pace toward the ship.

"What are we coming to get?" inquired Gosell. She knew that neither of them had much in the way of luggage or personal belongings, nothing either of them probably weren't carrying already, given each of their circumstances.

"I need to do some research on the Sith Lord that worked with my father, and Peri's ship has the best terminal on this part of the planet. This settlement is pretty much run down as far as technology goes."

"But information is so unreliable outside the Core. What do you expect you'll find?"

"Beneath every sea of subterfuge and exaggeration, small but solid reefs of truth and authenticity lay hidden beneath the surface. Something Melco taught me when I was younger."

The boarding ramp was down as they approached Peri's cruiser.

"What do you think they were after?" asked Gosell, as they paused to survey the area.

"Not sure," Thera replied. "I did not sense any sort of anxiety that might suggest they were searching for anything."

"Sabotage, maybe."

Thera nodded. "We must be careful."

T3-D4 met them at the top of the boarding ramp full of agitated tweets and beeps. After looking around, they noted nothing out of place or missing. Thera took T3 with her to the communications terminal and began her information search. She noted several communications from various planetary governments from systems in the area, including Ryloth. As she scanned through several of the information packets, she noted a cluster of files that carried a common tag that seemed out of place in some instances, but it consistently appeared in nearly all of the files. The file cluster, in general, related to certain star destroyers of the Sith Empire, the latest of which appeared to originate from the Ryloth system.

Unable to find the name of the Sith Lord she was looking for, she began turning her search closer to Roon, hoping to find links to cross-reference with links from Ryloth.

Gosell sat up with a start. She had decided to watch for Peri while she waited for Thera. She managed to dose off in the lounge, until she heard footsteps climbing the boarding ramp. Peri came promptly into view with a serious expression on his face.

"It's time for you to go," he began. "Where's everyone else?"

"Thera's in the cockpit with T3, and I haven't seen or heard from the others," Gosell replied.

"Okay, thank you," he replied as he headed straight for the cockpit without any sort of hesitation.

He found Thera fixated on his communications terminal with T3.

"Thera, I'm sorry, but my time limit is up; you need to go."

"Wait! I just found something...," she began.

"No! I don't have time, nor do I want any more part of your delusions of grandeur," he said, his voice growing sterner.

"But..." she began as she turned around to protest. Peri ignored her and pulled out his comlink, activating it.

"Where are you? I'm making preparations to leave here shortly," he said.

After a moment, the Zeltron's voice finally came back.

"I'm... just finishing up a few things, Peri..."

"Great! Hurry!"

He pocketed his comlink and turned toward T3-D4.

"T3, we need to get startup preps underway; use the short list; we're in a hurry," said Peri as he hastily left the cockpit.

Thera stood and began making her way toward the lounge.

"Well, so long T3," she said.

T3-D4 chirped a series of tones ending with a sad dropping tone.

"Don't worry, I am sure we will cross paths again, soon," she said with a smile and winked. T3 winked back with his blue sensor light as she disappeared. Thera found Gosell waiting for her. They regarded each other without a word and departed toward the Mogo farmstead.

"Did you find anything?" asked Gosell as they waded through the tall grass fields.

"A few things of interest surfaced. I also stumbled onto something about those intruders, but Peri cut me off before I could learn more, or say anything to him about it."

"He's in danger?"

"I think so, but not too much."

"'Not too much'?"

"Although he may be through with _us_, I do not sense that we are through with him."

"Where to, now?"

"Lady A'pratti'ka has her ship. We need to find her."


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

_Timing..._, thought the Zeltron as he slipped his shirt over his head, and pulled it over his torso to where A'pratti'ka's blues hands lingered over his abdomen muscles. He felt his body emitting more pheromones in response to her touch.

"I'm sorry we didn't have more time," he said. "I would have _loved_ to see how far we could go."

She brought her chest flush with his and slipped her arms around his waist as he slipped into his cloak and then rested his hands on her hips. "I may have had to disappoint you," she replied with an easy grin. "There's not a male alive who has gone all the way with me."

He smiled back with a chuckle, and then bent forward to kiss her forehead. "You sure seem to find your way around," he said.

"I've come a long way," she replied, relaxing her embrace. "Let's just say," she continued, turning away from him and reaching her arm out as her cloak floated through the air toward her open hand until she could grasp it, "that it's an occupational hazard, because I venture to be thorough and efficient, at _everything_."

She cocked her head back and sent him a smile and a wink over her shoulder. "I was _really_ looking forward to it as well."

"Perhaps another time, then," he said, sending back his own wink.

"Another time..." she echoed.

The Zeltron sighed, knowing he needed to hurry; Peri never wasted much time when he was in one of his moods. Times like this actually made him more efficient with whatever he was doing.

"So long, blue babe!" he called out as he set a strong pace toward Peri's ship.

She didn't turn back to watch him leave, but maintained her gaze away from him as she eased into her own cloak, setting it how she liked it, loosely draped over her shoulders, wide around the back of her neck.

When she knew Peri was out of ear shot, she called out, "Lurking in shadows?"

"I did not wish to disrupt your _salacious salutation_," replied Thera's voice dryly.

"Oh don't kid yourself; there was nothing in that at all. Show yourself."

Thera stepped from behind a junky, rusted-out heap of what looked like it may have once been a luxury passenger liner. Gosell followed behind her.

"Well, then," said Thera, "since _nothing_ is done, let us go see what we can do with your ship."

A'pratti'ka nodded to her, "let us go."

Thera and Gosell followed as she led the way back to her commandeered Fury-class interceptor. She had procured it from its previous owner, Darth Cunan, since she had conveniently decapitated him. She also killed all of the remaining sentient beings onboard as she knew their loyalty would be unreliable, leaving only the labor and utility droids to help with piloting the ship and effecting repairs. She left them with instructions to repair her stabilizer foil that was damaged during the earlier dog fight with Peri's ship, after managing to land without crashing.

A'pratti'ka led them back to the edge of the mogo farm and directed Thera and Gosell to wait for her.

"I don't understand," remarked Gosell, confused.

"I have some unfinished business to ensure security against pursuers," replied A'pratti'ka. "Thera, did you take proper damage controls in your interactions with the farmers?"

"Standard operating protocol, yes; they are ready to receive you," Thera replied.

A'pratti'ka nodded and trudged away. They watched as she walked casually to the homestead of the farmers. A few of them met her at the entrance and admitted her in. Thera strode over to a shade tree and sat cross-legged and closed her eyes.

"Can she use the Force," began Gosell to Thera, "to erase their memories?" She sat down next to Thera.

Thera smiled, "The Force can have a powerful effect on those beings that are weak-minded."

"Is that what she's doing?"

"She is leaving them with a gift in exchange for their silence on our behalf."

"Oh. We're sure that will work?"

"Lady A'pratti'ka can be _very_ persuasive, and very _thorough_. She has a perfect record for eliminating traceability. She once used as an alias the Chiss word for 'wind'. She chose it because you can never harness the wind, and even with its effects, you can tell where it was going, but you can rarely tell where that breath of wind has gone."

Gosell looked thoughtful as she pondered the bit of history about their newest cohort. She tried to relax breathing in the fresh air, smelling the foul scent of the mogos mixed with the fresh scent of the blades of grass where they grazed. She was pleasantly surprised as memories from when she was a small child faded into her mind, memories of her parents' farm on Ryloth, before they were killed.

She noticed the mogos were feeding on the other side of the farmstead today. She closed her eyes and let her arms hang loose. She let her head slowly dip backward, stretching her neck slowly, feeling the warmth of the Roon sun wash over her face, and seeing the glow of the sunbeams through her green eyelids. Suddenly her eyelids grew dark. She opened her eyes with a start to find A'pratti'ka staring down at her.

"It's time to go, now," said A'pratti'ka.

"I didn't hear you," remarked Gosell.

She and Thera stood and dusted off the loose grass blades from their clothing.

A'pratti'ka turned back to observe the mogo homestead. Gosell walked up next to her as she raised her arm out back toward the farm and closed her solid red eyes.

"What sort of gift did you leave?" asked Gosell.

"A detonator," said A'pratti'ka with a flick of her fingers.

Immediately the ground shook with a boom and a roar, and a blinding brilliant bright explosion worked its way high into the sky and spread from the homestead, expanding well beyond the stead before dissolving into stable flames erupting from the homestead and the nearby sheds. Gosell stumbled backward into Thera with surprise. Thera steadied her, and they watched as A'pratti'ka stood still as the blast shockwave rushed past, disturbing her hair and cloak magnificently.

Thera fought it at first as she and Gosell tucked their faces away from the brunt of the shockwave's force. She sensed strong surprise from Gosell that quickly abated into acquiescence. But then she sensed the dark side of the Force, and noticed A'pratti'ka absorbing power from the phenomenon. She closed her eyes and bore her body toward the dwindling wake of the shockwave. Gosell managed to regain her balance and stand with them.

"You _knew_ what she was doing?" she asked Thera.

Thera only looked at her and grimaced.

"Was this also what happened to Melco?" asked Gosell.

"No," replied A'pratti'ka, "which is why we can't take any more chances."

A'pratti'ka turned and began to hurry off. "_Come!_" she said. "We don't have much time. We only cinched one of many loose ends here."

The three strode off at a deliberate pace, A'pratti'ka leading the way.

After rounding a corner, A'pratti'ka turned to Thera without breaking her pace. "He had _very_ gentle hands, Thera."

"_What?_" she asked, sounding irritated.

"And his tongue was _smooth_ as shimmersilk."

Thera only shook her head in disgust.

"He's so full of _tension_..."

"I do not _need_ this," said Thera as she stopped abruptly. Gosell followed suit beside her. A'pratti'ka continued a few paces before turning back to face them.

"...and all he _really_ wants is _you_," continued A'pratti'ka.

Thera tilted her head. "Then why did he kiss _you_?"

"He was desperate, for an outlet from the truth, _his_ truth."

"You were ready to give _yourself_ to him!"

"... down to the unfortunate end, though I'm not who he _really_ wants."

Thera folded her arms, sighed and rolled her eyes. "I know as well as you do that your actions were _not_ about what he wants."

A'pratti'ka smiled at Thera, walked forward and placed her hands on Thera's arms. "Your insight serves you well. But this is also for what _you_ want, and, thanks to me, you still may have a chance with him."

Thera looked up at the sky. "I do not _want_... I am _not_ _having_ this discussion! Do not tell me anymore about it!"

Thera threw up her hands and stomped ahead leaving Gosell and A'pratti'ka behind.

"Where are you _going_?" Gosell called after her. "I thought we were following A'pratti'ka!"

"I have _found_ it already," she shouted back over her shoulder without stopping.

Gosell squinted and looked ahead of them. She could only make out rundown cityscape.

"I don't see it," she said to A'pratti'ka.

"She's good with gadgets, and the Force is with her; c'mon," replied A'pratti'ka as she stepped ahead to follow Thera.

"I can't believe you." Peri told the Zeltron dryly, trying to sound uninterested in his story. He finishing up his preflight checkoff while listening to the Zeltron relay to him his rendezvous with the Chiss woman, and he grew more and more irritated that he wasn't getting any help.

"I'm trying to leave all of this chaos behind, and you go off on an _escapade_, and with one of _them_!"

"Hey, _Peri_, c'mon! I couldn't _help_ it; she had me feeling _vulnerable_..."

"_She blew up your ship_!"

"...She was so _warm_ and _inviting_, and her hands were _all over_ me, she really _wanted_..."

Peri threw up his hands, "I don't want to hear _anymore_ about your erotic encounters. We're ready for takeoff; strap in if you're going to."

The Zeltron bit his lip and hoisted himself into the copilot seat and stared out the viewport at the mogos grazing in front of their view of the mogo farmstead. He glanced over at Peri as he silently flipped switches in time with precise beeps from T3-D4, and machinery and instrumentation gradually hummed to life.

"I think I would have been her first."

"Dare I ask what _ever_ gave you that impression?"

"She said there's no other male alive that's gone all the way with her."

"Need I remind you," Peri sighed impatiently, "that she's a Sith?"

"Yeah, so...?"

"She was going to kill you."

"_What?_ That's _crazy_! You can't _tell_ me..."

"She's a _Sith_," Peri interrupted, "_highly_ specialized in _espionage_! Do I _really_ need to explain it further?"

"_Yeah_, but..."

He couldn't think of what he wanted to say next. He found himself struggling to recall the exact words that she used as he was mostly fixated on how she felt, physically and mentally. _She's so irritatingly subtle_, he thought. Somehow he could feel that Peri was right. Peri simply looked at him, silently daring him to say anything else. All he could do was gesture with his hands and look away. Peri smirked and shook his head with wry amusement, and then turned to look back at where T3-D4 was plugged into the ship's terminal.

"Alright, T3, let's take her out of here," said Peri

The repulsors hummed to life and the ship began to slowly liftoff. Suddenly a blinding light flashed across the viewport followed immediately by a loud boom. The light quickly resolved into what looked like an explosion engulfing the mogo farmstead, scattering the mogos that weren't immediately consumed by the flames. The blast shockwave slammed into the ship. Though the ship's shields absorbed its force, it still managed to rattle the ship.

"What the..." again the Zeltron found himself lost for words.

"I don't know, but we're _leaving_!" said Peri as he turned the ship away from the scene and engaged his sublight engines.

"How much more repair work does your ship require?" asked Thera.

The Interceptor was in view now, less than a hundred meters at the edge of a bridge missing its midsection that once stretched over the lake at the settlement's edge. The terrain was built up to be mostly flat until it sloped down sharply near the lake's shoreline. Gosell began to notice growing trouble with Thera and A'pratti'ka as they drew closer to the ship.

"The stabilizer needs replacing," replied A'pratti'ka, "so she won't perform evasive maneuvers well, but the hyperdrive and other vital systems still function; nothing droid repairs can't promise."

Gosell felt unsettled now as their pace turned into a trot. She knew the other two had to be communicating on a different plane of existence with the Force, but she couldn't quite figure out what they were planning, and she didn't know yet if they were running from something or hurrying to not miss something. All she could do was match their actions. Within fifty meters of the ship, the trot turned into a full run. Suddenly, Thera spun around and began rapid back stepping, looking around, and shouted, "We're being pursued. Don't look back; _run_!"

Her magenta lightsaber blade sprung to life in spins and twirls as blaster bolts abruptly began firing around them. The blaster shots grew in Gosell's ears into a cacophony of blasts and small explosions. _Don't look back; just run_, said an urgent voice in her mind that sounded like Thera's. Within about twenty meters of the ship, she saw A'pratti'ka ahead of her pull items from her cloak as she ran. One hand pulled a device she spoke into; the other hand looked full of several small objects, a few of which she flung further ahead of them, the remainder of which she tossed up in the air to fall down behind them as they ran past. Within about ten meters, her red lightsaber blade came to life as the boarding ramp lowered and simultaneously all of the objects she threw burst into large clouds of thick smoke. She spun around motioning to Gosell to hurry on, and began deflecting the growing onslaught of blaster fire as Thera caught up with them.

Once onboard, Gosell headed for the cockpit, not sure what she could accomplish, since she had no pilot training, but she had to do something. She stopped short in front of a strange bronze colored bipedal droid with a vase-shaped head that had red photoreceptors pointing a blaster rifle at her.

"State your name," it said in a monotone voice.

Gosell froze until she heard the weapon charge up.

"Gosell!" she shouted with widened eyes.

"That is acceptable," it said lowering the weapon, and turned its attention back to the cockpit ignoring her.

She stepped up behind the droid to observe what she could of the cockpit over its shoulder. She saw a utility droid scurrying between terminals, apparently starting up the ship as engine startup noises began around her.

Not sure how secure she felt yet, she asked the bipedal droid, "So what if I had been one of _them_ and _blasted_ you when you asked me my name?"

The droid's head spun back around to regard her and said, "X2-C3 would have immediately exterminated you."

The utility droid beeped a few tones of agreement as it continued working. Gosell nodded as the bipedal droid returned its head to face its companion. They made no request for assistance, and no room to assist anyway, so she turned and made her way back to the main lounge as Thera and A'pratti'ka emerged from the boarding ramp. A'pratti'ka shouted into her communicator, "Take off, Fifty-three!"

The repulsors hummed while the ship tilted as it lifted off. It shook slightly with the sounds of small explosions. A'pratti'ka disappeared toward the cockpit, while Gosell and Thera braced themselves for takeoff.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

_I think I'm getting stiff_, thought the Zeltron, as he lay curled up around the form of T3-D4. They were squished into the mini-cargo compartment of Peri's pod drifting through space near the edge of the asteroid field of the Roon system. Shortly after their departure from Roon, several armored spacecraft launched from various random locations on Roon and immediately vectored upon intercept courses with Peri's ship.

His ship came under intense attack. Between the Zeltron's expert flying skills, Peri's technological enhancements _– everything except the confounded automatic weapons system... still... _ – and T3-D4's precision power routing to maintain continuity of propulsion, shields and weapons, they managed to last through the engagement until they reached the very edge of the asteroid field. There a lucky shot punched through the waning shields and struck a structural hub. Peri, having stumbled upon this structural vulnerability once before – _purely accidental, but I'll never admit to that... _– began working on back up measures, which included this pod they now occupied.

Though the pod appeared anything but spaceworthy, it supplemented the regular escape pods, which he never intended to use for himself, except as decoys so he could escape in his more obscure pod. The pod had an exterior sublight engine that would attach via an energy binder, but the power portals between the pod and the engine had to be aligned properly. Peri purposely didn't store them aligned so that he could jettison the pod and engine with his other equipment in the airlock, so it would look less like a manned vessel and be more easily disregarded by would-be pursuers, while the normal recognizable escape pods would be in danger of being hunted down and destroyed, especially deep within the Outer Rim territories of the Sith Empire. He modified a remote controller to fire off small repulsorlift boosters to help him align the power ports to bring the energy binder online once he knew he was safe.

Only now he was having trouble, because he never had an opportunity to practice with this sort of thing. He murmured to himself in between curses each time he miscalculated his repulsorlift burns.

_...And _they_ all thought I was crazy... 'That stuff never happens, Peri,' they said... 'Your mission won't make a difference,' they said... 'All of that extra security won't matter, you're just paranoid...' yeah, unless you're going deep into Sith space, harboring stowaways... idiots..._ "Blast it!" shouted Peri, "I _almost_ had it!"

"You know, Peri," piped the Zeltron, "You sure managed to pick out every weakness you could possibly exploit on that ship, and then draw every weapon you've encountered..."

"Quiet!"

T3-D4 beeped.

"You, too!"

T3-D4 let out a short sad tone.

"I almost got it," said Peri deep in concentration, mostly to himself.

"Wait! Did you hear that?" whispered the Zeltron.

"Hear _what_?"

"Shh!"

Finally Peri could hear distant explosions, much like the ones they heard before abandoning ship. He felt his heart pounding, wondering if his survival ploy would very soon be cut short. His makeshift pod would have the barest of propulsion capabilities, hardly comparable to a landspeeder in both maneuverability and speed, even in the vacuum of space. If one of those bounty hunters carried a meticulous streak, they weren't going to last much longer.

"Can you tell what's going on?"

The Zeltron didn't answer.

"Are they coming back for us?"

"No!" replied the Zeltron irritated as he struggled to concentrate with his telepathy.

"Well, do tell _something_, as I'm about ten seconds from losing this alignment I've been fighting for this whole time..."

"_Wait_! It's _them_!"

"What? _Who_?"

T3-D4 chirped excitedly.

"Report: Target has been vanquished," stated HK-53, the old, modified assassin droid, with its low, monotone vocabulator. "Assessment: No further targets remaining. Your tactic was more successful than originally calculated. Survival was not originally a viable probability."

"I'm _good_ at what I do," said Lady A'pratti'ka with a warm smile of satisfaction. A series of electronic beeps interrupted her special moment, when she realized it was X2-C3, the annoying utility droid that didn't like answering to a new master. The previous master, Lord Cunan, had personalized many of its settings and protocols. The hunter-killer assassin droid was programmed for unquestioning obedience under the correct protocols known only by its master – _quality; all orders require a qualitative criterion; I was lucky to figure that out..._ – whereas the X2 unit was absolutely obedient to the assassin droid regardless of its master. Thus the HK unit showed easier adjustment to changes in management.

She guessed, from the droid relationship programming they shared, that the arrangement was for the astromech to be pure assassin-happy, but always answer to the actual HK unit that he could control without question, as a safety feature against making a tinkering miscalculation and killing himself in the process of programming the small annoyance of a gadget-infested mechanic droid. She sighed away her deep desire to thrust her lightsaber through the astromech's "_technologically enhanced_" dome and glanced over and read the message screen.

"Very well, Extoo, good work!" _...good for _something_ at least..._ "Bear toward those coordinates and prepare the docking port."

She stood from the command chair and stretched her arms, straight up, then out and gradually back, and then turned to leave the cockpit.

"Fifty-three, transmit the coded message as previously discussed _immediately_, and notify me the _instant_ we acquire more targets."

"Reply: As you wish, Master."

A'pratti'ka entered the communications room where Thera sat looking exhausted with her head down on the sofa beside Gosell, whose eyes were bloodshot from studying a computer screen.

"You did well, Tykos" remarked A'pratti'ka. "I knew you specialized in electronics, but not so much engineering."

Thera lifted her head and just looked at her in response, and then let her gaze drift into a distant stare.

Gosell saw Thera's fatigue and responded, "She's had lots of practice on Peri's ship."

"Convenient. But you were sloppy!" A'pratti'ka said, meaning to stab at Thera's complacency. She felt an emotional response from Thera, though she managed to keep it hidden at first. "Has the Force worn you down so that you cannot command it?" She knew that wasn't the reason for her fatigue, not purely, but she also needed to stir the dark side more within her apprentice.

Thera re-focused her stern gaze on her master's solid red eyes, and adjusted her head to meet her squarely. She began what seemed like an ordeal for her of recounting how she sabotaged each of the starships using telekinesis on key points of their engines. Gosell listened with keen interest in the technique, trying to suppress how astounded she was at how unreal it all sounded. She thought back as she listened to what she couldn't see happening at the time, trying to piece memories with each unfolded event. She couldn't help but think of how unorthodox the strategy seemed; _it almost seems like cheating, as it were, compared to conventional pilots' tales._

"It's about survival," cut in A'pratti'ka, interrupting Thera's tale. Gosell felt slightly embarrassed as she remembered how transparent her thoughts were to these Sith. A'pratti'ka continued, "You can't fault resourcefulness, even if our methods seem irregular in any degree." Gosell visibly acknowledged her comment with a nod. Satisfied, A'pratti'ka nodded at Thera to continue her tale.

"The last pilot, you will remember," Thera resumed, "put up significant resistance. You should have noticed he was a Force-user." He was onto their scheme by the time he remained of all the pursuers, and shrouded the Force to thwart their strategy. He managed to retaliate with the Force by trying to choke her, and she described her struggle to resist the pilot's immense dark-side power.

"I know," interjected A'pratti'ka. "I was beginning to think I had found a _new_ apprentice."

Thera scowled momentarily before continuing. A'pratti'ka felt the dark side of the Force wash over Thera and grinned in approval at the strength of her anger. "He _was_ powerful, _very_ practiced, but also undisciplined."

"Yes," replied A'pratti'ka, "He practically forgot he was piloting a ship!"

"What happened?" inquired Gosell.

"I gave him an hallucination of me dying. I tried to hide myself in the Force."

"You're not quite _ready_ for that," said A'pratti'ka, "but very soon and I will teach you the technique."

The ship's intercom chimed as she spoke.

"Report: your orders have been fulfilled, and the ship is ready for dock," reported HK53.

"Very well, fifty-three," said A'pratti'ka, standing to leave, "I'm on my way." She left for the cargo hold and called back, "Don't take too long to primp; our men await us!"

"Speak," said the meditating Umbaran, as old as he sounded, shrouded in his hood-drawn cloak as he sat in the middle of the red-lit room. He sat within the artistic insignia representing the Sith Empire that was at its mid-point, completely motionless.

Darth Durus often spent time pondering impressions in the Force, exploring the different futures for himself, and for the Sith Empire. The Empire itself continued to grow unsteady, its quest for full galactic domination still dancing out of reach, especially as various Sith Lords continued to fight against each other, some of them as much as they fought the Republic. The Sith were falling from what they once were when they first asserted themselves a thousand years ago. They surged against the Republic until a few centuries ago when they finally crippled their infrastructure. The Jedi had managed to step in and maintain a stable resistance within the Republic, but Sith Lords had grown complacent since then, growing more focused on gaining power over one another than gaining more power in the Force, obstructing their destiny of eradicating the insolent Republic.

Durus had nearly completed influencing a paradigm shift that would refine the Sith Empire and return them to their destiny for bringing order to the _entire_ galaxy. He had succeeded thus far with much patience, and more patience was needed as he wrapped up his final preparations, which included the report he now commanded from his old apprentice, Darth Subtyr.

Subtyr bowed slightly, "My Lord! We have reports that the Mandalore project has been completed, at last," he said with noticeable anxiety. "We received a coded transmission from Lord Cunan. He is on his way to join us from the Roon System."

Durus still did not move. "A much awaited report," he replied.

"I believe the report to be _false_, my Lord."

"You feel that Lord Cunan seeks to deceive us?"

"He did not deliver the report personally, and I have felt strange disturbances in the Force."

"Very good! The vision has not yet faded."

"We have underestimated the strength of the catalyst."

"It will not hinder our effort; the catalyst has not yet mobilized."

"It can still be stopped."

Durus allowed silence to affirm his concurrence.

"How go the preparations for our emergence against Corellia, my Lord?"

"It is of no concern until the catalyst has been fully neutralized."

"But, my Lord, won't a delay threaten our success?"

"Darth Subtyr, you are very capable with your command of the Force," said Durus, lifting his head as he slowly moved to stand, "but you still have much to learn, much that I shall soon teach you."

Subtyr allowed the sentiment to linger without a response. He knew that his power was more than sufficient to overpower and destroy his former master. But his master still bested him in resources with an ingenious web of connections, many, if not all, of which were untraceable. Thus no other being could simply assume his role as the master focal point in his web; his loss would simply dissolve massive portions of it, rendering his extinction more damaging than his existence.

Durus continued, "I have summoned Lord Syriu'us to aid us. If we fail to eliminate the catalyst, our destiny will be compromised."

Fury flooded Subtyr's mind at the mention of Syriu'us' name. He recalled his last encounter with Syriu'us involving an altercation over the logistics of an operation involving the annihilation of a rogue cartel presence on Tatooine. The whole thing ended in a stalemate when the operation was abruptly superseded by the Mandalore mission. Noticing his own buildup of anger and adrenaline, he quickly funneled his energy into imagining the prospects for a rematch.

A Jedi-reject, Syriu'us was a highly skilled warrior and well versed with the ways of the Force, more so than many Sith Lords that Subtyr could recall, except when it came to the Sith arts. His tactic, Subtyr noticed, was to compensate with his Jedi-stained light-side powers, which he managed effectively enough. But Subtyr saw how Syriu'us' oversight with Sith arts limited his potential, an error he knew he would punish Syriu'us for if it was not remedied before such an occurrence as a rematch were to transpire. Satisfied with this vision, Subtyr returned to the present and began suppressing his fervor.

"Yes, my lord," he responded with a hint of pleasure.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

_Everyone makes mistakes_, thought Bli Aeocc as he sat alone at his table sipping on his glass of water and rationalizing over his most recent bout of bad luck. He stared out the tapcaf window, watching as random shapes of various beings walked past. When he first sat down, the fog was very thick, which made it easy for Bli to ignore any details of the beings outside, allowing himself to sink into memories, sifting through choices and alternative outcomes that would never come to pass now. He needed to pull out of his rut and find work, another bounty of some sort to draw some credit flow, since he was running short of food and supplies for his space transport.

Now he was on the other side of the galaxy, Ryloth of all places, far enough away from his blunders anyways. He was supposed to meet a rep for a bounty hunting team that claimed to specialize in hunting Jedi Knights. Recent years had seen a Jedi or two pop up at scattered points outside the Core allegedly on scouting missions. While it was also no secret that some were beginning to defect from the Republic to join the Sith armies, the Sith did not seem to want to take chances these days as they had posted bounties for Jedi, dead with their lightsaber weapon or alive. Dead Jedi paid more, but either posed a significant challenge to anyone up to the task. The reputation of Jedi spread quickly, even without the HoloNet from the Core. While everyone knew the Sith were ruthless, the Jedi could be just as deadly.

Bli wasn't new to bounty hunting, but he only recently tried delving into hunting force-sensitives. His very first attempt, which he now sat contemplating, ended badly. Some renegade Sith were loose around Mandalore. _You'd think the Sith could take care of their own_, he thought, _always killing each other for power, a bit unusual_.

Following tips, he picked up on a trail, unsure of how reliable the tips were. He remembered hearing for himself all the evidence he needed – lightsabers clashing just around the corner from where he was, in some sort of obvious struggle, bodies strewn around the alleyway once he finally made it to the scene, the only survivor in sight was a woman, _beautiful, though I'm not sure why I cared to notice, _crying, sitting on the ground. He was still unsure at first – _that was my first mistake..._ – until out of nowhere, _it felt that way anyways_, she put up an amazingly strong fight... _even for a female, she was well trained..._

He checked his chrono _...rep's gonna be here in a few minutes..._ and shook his head inhaling deeply, weary with reliving that whole encounter in his head again...

Something banged into his table real hard. He sprung to his feet, his holdout weapon drawn and aimed at whatever had just disturbed him. He was startled, but he wasn't about to let on that he wasn't aware of his surroundings to anyone for an instant.

Standing nonchalant at his reaction next to him was a figure wearing dull, green armor with orange trim over a loose, brown colored bodysuit, wearing a helmet with a bluish, opaque visor. He guessed the figure was female by the slender form standing with feet apart, weight shifted to one side, sidearm barely visible as it was held it so that it hung behind the support leg. When the figure didn't flinch at his reaction, he noted further the features of the armor were shaped fairly to accommodate a female form. Where her neck would be was bare, so he could tell she was Human, or at least near-Human, as she had brown hair that barely strayed from her helmet.

He held his blaster trained on her and charged up his auxiliary systems of his own battle armor with his finger-switch on his empty hand, not daring to drop his guard until she moved.

After a few seconds, she finally spoke, "You Bli?" She seemed to favor functionality as her helmet's vocabulator didn't mask her voice's feminine features.

"I don't answer to that," he said curtly keeping his aim. It wasn't true, but that was his part of the identification protocol he was given.

No one else in the tapcaf stirred at their exchange. That didn't bother him, but he made a mental note for future reference.

"Check your weapon," she said, nodding at his blaster, "grab your gear, and follow me."

She didn't wait for him to respond, but turned to leave, almost as if she didn't care if he complied. As she walked away, he sized up her sidearm as he grabbed his gear. She carried a stockless sniper rifle with an extended barrel and some type of high tech scope he had never seen before. It looked custom built overall, but he couldn't place the original model with the manufacturers he knew.

As she approached the exit, she paused and swung her rifle around to her front, then disappeared. He caught himself entranced with the weapon once she was gone, still seated at his table. _Gotta focus! _As he got up to follow her, a man in battered, solid dark blue battle armor from a nearby table also stood to leave. The man waved to him, but he tried to ignore him. The man persisted and called out to him.

"Hey, man! I think that girl that just left likes you!" He sounded like he might have been trying to whisper, except that he wasn't

"Yeah, sure," he said, trying to slough off the random comment, "just save it!" He continued toward the door without even looking at the man.

"No _wait_! She was walking all _provocative_-like; she sure caught _my_ attention!" the man continued.

_Don't feed the flames that you want to die..._ Bli continued walking past the man without even a glance. Just as he was almost out the door...

"_Hey_, man! You dropped this!"

Bli paused, took a mental note, _the guy's bluffing; my gear's weighted correctly; He's really starting to bug me, I may have to kill him_, he thought, glancing up at the top of the entryway, still avoiding eye contact.

"Keep it," he said and marched out of the tapcaf.

"_Wait_!" he heard the man call out. Bli stepped away from the tapcaf wading through a crowd of beings that seemed to come out of nowhere. He scanned quickly looking for the girl's armor. That man in the tapcaf was blundering after him, and really beginning to get on his nerves. He had to find her quick so he could lose the nuisance behind him. _There she is!_ He spotted her less than a click away, quick stride, strutting..., _the guy was right about how she was walking... Time to lose him!_ The man was nearly caught up to him, reaching for his arm...

"Where are you going in such a..."

Bli dodged the man, then somersaulted toward the girl and rolled up onto his feet, trying to blend in with the throng of beings but still trying to rush to catch up to his contact. She didn't seem to care that he wasn't following her very well, never seem to check or notice he wasn't with her. _Odd._ As she disappeared into another oncoming throng of beings, he dashed to catch up to her finally. After penetrating the same throng only moments behind her, he found that she had disappeared entirely. The only beings around him now were the throng leaving him, and a few Twi'lek peddlers near a noisy saloon on one side of the common walk. On the other side stood a mechanic shop and some tall buildings, probably some sort of short-stay dwellings and a shopping establishment of some sort.v

"Name's Twizz," came a familiarly irritating voice behind him.

Turning to face the man in blue, he held his blaster at the ready, not sure if he could trust the man or if he was even going to like him.

"Relax!" he said casually, as he approached holding out his hand in a friendly sort of gesture. Bli didn't relax his weapon, but charged up his jets. He wasn't really planning to use them just yet, but there was something about the small whine of the generator charging up whenever he threatened with his weapon that seemed to heighten the intimidation factor to his whole posture. It worked on Twizz, who stopped his pace and held out both his hands now.

"Hey! This isn't what you think!" Twizz spouted in quick, low tones.

"You slowed me down, so I couldn't keep up!" said Bli, sternly.

"Let's not get hasty..."

"I don't like you," he said raising his weapon to aim straight for his face fully intent to shoot.

"She's in there!" Twizz said, pointing at the noisy saloon.

They stood motionless for a few moments.

"She's second in charge of the crew," added Twizz. "Name's Kym."

Bli lowered his weapon with a sigh, eyes still locked with Twizz. He sighed again and lowered his head, stowing his blaster as he turned toward the saloon.

"Well, then let's go get her," he said suppressing the immense feeling of relief seeping into him.

"Now _that's_ more like it," said Twizz with a laugh, putting his arm around Bli to accompany him.

Twizz stopped the two of them at the entrance turning Bli to face him.

"We've been watching you," he began calmly.

Bli met his eye evenly.

"You're demeanor will work for our outfit, but you're rough in some areas, sloppy in others. We'll train you up, but you'd better learn _fast_, and it will be _extremely_ unconventional at times. _Now's_ your only _safe_ chance to change your mind and back out of the _whole_ thing, we'll forget we ever had contact with you."

Bli squelched his sense of hopelessness he was harboring back at the tapcaf. "I'm ready for anything," he said, turning to look for Kym. He walked into the saloon and looked around, absorbing the cacophony of music, lights, dancing and drinking. To him, some of the dancing looked simple, but a few of the dancers seemed to exhibit true artistic mobility.

"The setting is deliberate," said Twizz behind him. "Don't get too distracted. That's our booth," he pointed. Bli followed his aim to a corner strategically located in a corner allowing some seclusion without compromising its vantage point to the rest of the saloon. Kym sat with a glass she seemed to ignore as she worked diligently at a datapad. Across from her sat a Devaronian with knobbed horns and a single scar stretched diagonally from his right eye brow, across his nose, to the left corner of his mouth, sporting a tall, clear glass of something yellow colored with some sort of cream on top.

"Mingle for awhile if you want; I'll introduce you to the rest of the group when Chum'lee gets back. He's our number one. He should be back in about an hour. I'll be back." Twizz turned to leave.

"Where are _you_ going?" asked Bli.

"Oh, I'm not into this sort of setting. See you later," he added, and left abruptly.

Lord Subtyr stood brooding as he waited in the hanger for the boarding ramp of the Imperial assault craft to lower. Lord Syriu'us had to be waiting on purpose, just to offset Subtyr's emotional equilibrium. Anger wasn't his passion of choice, though his encounters with Syriu'us always seemed to warrant a healthy dose of it. This time, though, there were serious problems afoot that might potentially inhibit their usual clash.

Finally, the hydraulic servos began to vent mists that obscured the boarding ramp as it lowered. Syriu'us walked down nonchalant and greeted Subtyr with a nod. He was clearly aware of the tension currently stirring through the Force and was ready to get to work.

"Lord Durus is waiting for us," said Subtyr.

"How bad is it?" asked Syriu'us.

"We had an explosion yesterday in one of the crew galleys, and another today in an officer galley."

"I assume it's not bad cooks? Or problems with flammable liquid storage?"

"Preliminary reports don't support any problems of those sorts."

"I feel it, now..."

"The disturbance in the Force?"

"Not in the usual sense..."

"We've sensed the mind of a saboteur, but we're waiting for further information that should be available by the time we meet with Lord Durus."

"I'm anxious to experience this mind you've sensed, to be so brilliant as to elude Sith Lords, having no adeptness with the Force."

Subtyr absorbed the insult with a sigh, only because Syriu'us still didn't know about the catalyst. He looked at him with an angry look to silently let him see the contempt he knew Syriu'us could feel from him.

"There's a greater matter as well."

"I've anticipated as much."

_Smug._

"I'll let Lord Durus describe it to you."


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Chum'lee Atums was one for minding his own business, and taking good care of his own business. Whenever he had to wait, he let his mind wander out of old habits. He was a Jedi Knight when he was young, though had the war between the Republic and the Sith Empire not been waging on then, he may have been a padawan longer as he was still a teenager when he was made a full Jedi. He felt he was quite average in his skill with the Force compared to others, but when the call came for more Jedi Knights to help fight the Sith Empire, he made the cut.

He was thrilled for the adventure, possibly to a fault, even hopeful for a Republic surge of success in the war, until it was cut short by an ambush of Mandalorians and Sith combined. The battle was brutal, to say the least, and Chum'lee was severely wounded and separated from his unit and left behind, probably for dead, by the badly beaten and depleted Republic Jedi convoy. He didn't blame them for leaving him; he knew a rescue would have been suicide, as the mission turned out to be anyway. He watched many whom he knew well die in battle, and found bodies of many more that he knew of while he struggled to find shelter. For some reason, the Mando-Sith task force didn't bother scavenging for survivors, not that they would have found any besides him. Not much later, he felt strong disturbances in the Force rip through him driven by astonishment and death. He could only assume that the remains of his convoy had been hunted down and destroyed.

Since then, Chum'lee focused on survival. As he recovered from his injuries, he found using the Force difficult and burdensome and gradually lost some of his skills. Out of necessity for survival deep within the Sith Empire, he turned to developing other skills being careful to avoid making himself a target by actively using the Force, though he never avoided opportunities to stop and glean insight from it. He learned to look out for himself, and eventually worked his way into bounty hunting. In time, he began using his unique skills to specialize in the recent new market of hunting Jedi for the Sith, or whoever else paid enough, while his touch with the Force remained his best kept secret.

He learned how to get virtually whatever he wanted, sometimes even cheating luck. He became successful, including putting together a small team of highly skilled bounty hunters to help him.

The only vice Chum'lee would admit to was women, particularly using them for pleasure. He found that a little persuasion with the Force was helpful at times to getting what he wanted with them. Though he made it a point to completely separate business with pleasure, he also made a habit of putting pleasure before business. _You better be careful, Chum'lee; one of these days, _one_ of those women is gonna kill you_, Twizz had told him on numerous occasions.

That was why Atums found himself returning often to take contracts from Shyk, a Neimoidian administrator of a high profile saloon on Ryloth that specialized in physical pleasure for transients using a mix of native Twi'leks and other imported species, depending on business and intermittent "housekeeping" measures. He ran a side operation that was only known about in either the occasional rumor or word of mouth if you were in the business. This included hit contracts and assassinations, run in close affiliation with the Sith. Shyk ran a tight operation, which kept him successful as something of a Sith hideaway, able to manage his own strings to pull.

Chum'lee often thought it was a bit uncharacteristic for a Neimoidian to run an operation so sinister. On the other hand, Shyk also made sure to please his customers, especially ones that were either high profile or highly profitable, like Chum'lee.

Today's scenario was no different. His team was waiting for him at their private table in a quieter, almost secluded corner of the otherwise noisy saloon. He stepped up in full armor and looked around at the group, nodding to his new member, Bli Aeocc, his new backdoor sniper.

"Shyk must be stepping up his services," started Twizz. "It took _longer_ than normal. What's going down? Or do I really want to know?"

"Yeah, yeah..." said Chum'lee, trying to ignore the jab. Twizz had a big mouth sometimes.

"I've accepted a special contract this time. Not just your usual Jedi, wanted dead, not alive," he began. He paused and watched everyone straighten a little to pay attention better. No one made any comments, so he continued.

"The name is Syriu'us. A male Togruta with a deformity that should help him stand out; one of his montrals is shorter than the other."

Everyone stayed quiet, waiting for the "special" he announced.

"He is masquerading as a Sith Lord, so he carries a red lightsaber, and he probably won't be afraid to be seen in public. He's suspect as an infiltrator, avoids the darker Sith magic and stuff."

"Sounds like some sort of personal vendetta to me," piped Kym.

"...And he's a Sith Lord? The pay better be _good_," added Spen S'oustan, the distraction artist and explosives expert, who always had his pet lizard from who knows what world.

"I have a _bad_ feeling about this," remarked Twizz looking away from the group as if pondering something.

"_Relax_! He's supposed to be here in the system headed straight for us, so we'll need to set up surveillance and determine a plan. Kym, take Bli with you and show him some ropes. The rest of us will mingle and be on alert since we don't know his business on Ryloth yet."

Kym was the primary sniper, so she knew how to pick good nests. The team had a system that incorporated a backdoor sniper, basically for crossfire purposes. That was Bli's new job.

"Any questions?" asked Chum'lee. No one spoke. They rarely did at this point; they each had their own grooves and communicated well during operations. Atums couldn't have asked for a better team.

"Alright, then, you remember the drill; since he's wanted dead, we have to retain his lightsaber. Otherwise, we work for free, and we may not be able to afford that this time. We always get our man!" By this time, no one was really paying attention to him as they filtered out of their private booth. Kym paused beside him, gave him a quick glance and a half a head shake, and walked off with Bli in tow.

Kym was the only being who knew Chum'lee's secret, along with the uncensored full extent of his pleasure seeking. He knew she didn't approve of his lifestyle choices, mostly because she had her own romantic interest in him at one time. When she decided he was too shallow and a little controlling, she pinned him against a wall and let him know under no uncertain terms that her interest had died. Her gesture right then was filled with the similar disgust she knew he could sense.

He sighed, mentally recalling his own motto: _keep business and pleasure separate_. Then, when he knew he was virtually alone, he pounded an angry fist into the table, sending a few items into the air, which he made to set back in place gently with the Force; a little trick he held to himself to relieve tension, _...there, barely a ripple in the Force._

"There!" said Thera standing up from her work on X2-C3. "All of the parameters are programmed into Extoo, just as you wished, Master."

"Very well," replied A'pratti'ka. "That's all I have for you now. We'll be leaving the ship soon."

Thera nodded, sensing the dismissal, and then left the ship's cockpit. As she walked away, she sensed that A'pratti'ka was hiding something from her. She walked slowly trying to clear her mind. She had learned that her connection with the Force weakened when she carried mental turmoil, and flowing _with_ the Force seemed to work more than trying to bend it to her will, the way she sensed many of the Sith do that she had killed. A'pratti'ka seemed to do so as well, but with incomprehensible proficiency, and only when she seemed to have no other option. _When you reach a fight-or-flight mental state, it strengthens your passions within _if_ you can bring yourself to realize and believe that you have _nothing_ to lose_, A'pratti'ka had taught her. _Then the dark side of the Force is more responsive to your will, and it becomes more of a conversation for mutual benefit. Then you become invincible._

Thera closed her eyes as she stepped into the lounge, stood still and quiet, trying to divine what she could about her future, and any clues about what A'pratti'ka was plotting. Her thoughts usually seemed to need to align themselves until she would perform her one-armed handstand. Sensing she was alone in the lounge, her eyes still closed, she stripped down to her dark green bodysuit. Melco had given her a new one, more form fitting as it was meant for a male, to wear beneath her coveralls. She went swiftly onto her right arm, quickly balancing her body, her limbs outstretched. The focus in her balance and muscle control opened her mind to the currents in the Force. She had difficulty sensing A'pratti'ka any more clearly, but she was gradually able to sense possibilities in the future from whatever the Dark Lady of the Sith had to hide. She began lifting loose items in the lounge with the Force. The Force seemed to permeate her body as she extended her feelings trying to learn more about her destiny. It was still shrouded, still filled with danger, still looking for her, and beginning to reach out to her...

"_Oh_! I'm terribly sorry!" came Peri's voice, T3 tweeting right behind him. "I didn't mean to...," he trailed off. She could sense his surprise mingled with wonder.

"Disturb me?" she finished his statement as she gently lowered each object she had levitated, and then gracefully uprighted herself, facing away from him to hide her own mild embarrassment.

"It's just that," he began, uncertain what he wanted to say, "you look so, I mean, this is the second time I've seen you do that." She could feel his admiration, crowded out by his own weariness for all of his recent setbacks.

After a few moments of awkward silence, she finally decided to change the subject. She suppressed a grin and turned to retrieve her coveralls and sat down to put them on.

"How go the repairs," she asked as she dressed herself.

"They're coming along slowly, still some vital structural damage," he said staring off at the wall, frustrated. "I was hoping Lady A'pratti'ka's new droids could help."

"She is still in the cockpit with them. She will be out soon," she said pulling up her zipper.

A'pratti'ka felt Thera begin to sink into the Force as she watched her leave the cockpit. Out of habit, she always made contingency plans for any mission she ever did; now was no different, and much more uncertain. Also out of habit, she would shroud these contingency arrangements with the dark side of the Force, having learned that too many minds making decisions in the same game lowered the effectiveness of contingency planning. Again, now was no different.

She waved her hand at Thera as she stepped out, sending up her dark side shroud. She grinned, and then looked down at X2-C3.

"Did you make the copy for me, Extoo?" she asked, lovingly patting the droid's dome.

X2-C3 ejected a datacard with an affirmative chirp. A'pratti'ka took it gently and slipped it into a hidden pouch in her Sith robe. She sighed and smiled bigger.

"Lord Cunan," she said to herself, as if to the Sith Lord she had killed, "you certainly had the perfect setup with these droid assets. I'm happy to take them off of your hands."

She inhaled slowly as she turned her attention to HK-53.

"Fifty-three, any news from our X contact?"

"Report: X contact has sent a receipt signal of your last transmission. No further information has been transmitted."

"How did this X contact know our encryption?" she wondered out loud to herself.

"Analysis," began HK-53 presuming his unintended cue, "I have no data on how this may have occurred, since Lord Cunan forbade me to use any standard Imperial encryption, forcing me to concoct my own. This is the first contact I have encountered to accurately and significantly decrypt my encryptions without first being transmitted a key."

"Have you traced the source of the transmission?"

"Report: I have not pinpointed the source, but I have determined that it originated from somewhere inside the Harrower-class dreadnought currently orbiting Ryloth."

"Durus."

"Concurrence: it serves as his command ship, though his presence is ever uncertain, even with actual ship's logs."

"Very well, Fifty-three. Contact me _immediately_ the moment our X contact responds," said A'pratti'ka as she stood to leave.


End file.
